Double Trouble
by KicsterAsh
Summary: Andy's acting strange, at least stranger than a five-year-old with ghost powers. Danny is determined to get to the bottom of this mystery, even though he had no idea what dangers he's about to face.
1. Chapter 1

_**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** Okay, guys, here's the next installment to my DP fanfic series, **Double Trouble.** I will be posting this at a much slower pace than **Return of the Hero **and **The Mystery of the Spirit Gems,** so please be patient. It's all written down, I just like posting one chapter at a time.^^_

_You'll find out a lot about what had been happening while Danny was in the Ghost Zone for all those years, and you'll come to see just how much Andy means to his father. There are new characters in this story, so make sure you check out my profile page on FF to get links to the chart and to this story's title poster._

_Without further ado, let's dive into the story!_

* * *

Light grey clouds rolled in from the North over Amity Park, but no one seemed to be taking any heed of them; it was time for the Fall Supper in the city, when every neighbourhood got together, brought something good to eat, and ate outside in the various parks or beautiful streets. Children played soccer and football; parents chatted; people showed off their best art or antiques; there was an auction; there were a few rides and prizes to be won.

Just as Danny had remembered it when he was a child.

The Fentons and Mansons were to sit together at the large table for dinner, and although both Danny's and Sam's parents had a competitive relationship, they had managed to put many of their differences behind them for their children and their grandchild—many differences save the ghost hunting.

Danny had proven to Jeremy and Pamela Manson that he was a worthy husband for their daughter, as well as a worthy father for their grandson, Andy. After spending five years in the Ghost Zone—or five years of disappearance, in the Manson's minds—Danny had had a very short period of time to recover the time he had lost to prove himself again to Sam's family; luckily though, they loved his cooking, and eventually accepted him back into the family.

"Kinda ironic, though, isn't it?" Danny muttered to his wife as they set their plates down at their seats.

"What is?" Sam whispered back.

"Your parents have learned to tolerate me, but they still can't stand my folks."

"That's not ironic. That's normal. Anyone who likes you can't stand your parents."

Danny raised an eyebrow. Sam blushed and giggled. "I mean, everyone but Tucker and me, of course," she corrected herself.

Danny sat down and looked up at his mother. Despite her love of wearing her jumpsuit, she had dressed into something more casual for the fall supper; to Danny's surprise, it was a dress. He had never seen his mother in a dress before. At the moment, she was picking some food from the end of the buffet table; beside her stood Pamela, Sam's mother. Pamela was going through the deserts, while chattering away with Maddie. It was very rare for Danny to see the two having a casual conversation and even laughing together, even to that day. But it was rewarding, considering that there was no way that he would ever catch his own father having a good conversation with Jeremy.

"What are they talking about?" Danny asked Sam while pointing at their mothers.

Sam looked up from her food. "Who cares?" she said. "They're getting along, so I don't honestly care if they're talking about clothes or guys."

Danny grinned amusingly before pouring himself a glass of water. "Um, where's Andy, by the way?" he wondered.

"With Tucker."

"I know _that._ But shouldn't they have been back by now for the meal?"

"Tucker said he had to go get something in the SUV so he took Andy along with him. It's not like he's kidnapping him, Danny. Relax."

Danny blushed and looked at his plate. "Am I being _too _concerned?" he muttered embarrassingly. Ever since he had learned that Andy was his son, he never wanted to have any harm come to the boy; unfortunately, sometimes he wondered if he was being too overprotective.

Sam giggled while chewing on some broccoli and swallowed her food before answering. "Just a little," she said. "Do remember that he's inherited two of your abilities, so he's a lot safer than you think."

"I'm sorry. I guess I'm still new to this whole… uh, father thing."

Sam patted his cheek. "You'll get used to it," she replied. She raised the fork to her mouth. "I did."

Danny grinned in reply as he raised his glass to his lips.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed onto his shoulder, causing him to jump in surprise and nearly drop his glass' contents all over his suit. He quickly set it down while coughing and then turned around. "Hey!" he said with a frown. "What's the big i—!"

He stopped in his words when he saw who was there. Tucker, the mayor of Amity Park, was standing behind his two best friends with a look of concern on his face.

Danny stared at him in silence before Sam turned around. "Tucker?" the woman said. "Where's Andy?"

"And what's with the mud stains on your shirt?" Danny added, suddenly noticing that his best friend was covered in them.

Tucker looked down at his grey shirt and tie before pulling Danny and Sam's chairs back. "You'll get _both _your answers just as soon as you follow me," he said urgently. He grabbed their arms and raised them up.

"Ow! Tucker, what's gotten into you?" Sam scolded as she pulled her arm free.

"Couldn't you just tell us what's wrong, right here?" Danny wondered, smoothing out his shirt.

"Not if you want to make a scene in _front _of everyone," Tucker said behind his teeth.

These words startled the couple. Danny and Sam shared an uneasy look before looking at their best friend again.

Tucker pointed towards the streets. "Andy's acting _really _strange," he said worriedly. "You don't think he might be allergic to anything, do you?"

* * *

Careful not to alert their parents, Danny and Sam, despite their growing concern for their five-year-old, followed Tucker off as calmly as they could. Once they were out of sight, Tucker began explaining the dilemma.

"I took Andy to the SUV and told him to wait on the swings while I went in to get the camera," Tucker said. "For some weird reason, where it once had been sitting in the front of the car, it disappeared. So I literally had to tear the whole SUV up to find it in the trunk. Once I had, I came back out and… Andy was… _gone."_

"_Gone?"_ Sam said in dismay. "What do you mean, _gone?"_

"You were supposed to be watching him, Tucker!" Danny scolded.

Tucker raised his arms in the air. "Yo, I haven't even finished the story, yet!" he scolded. He looked at his best friends again. "I walked into the park and called out for him, and I found him hiding behind a tree. So I walked over and told him that we needed to get back to the meal." Tucker stopped in the small park where the swings and jungle gym were and worry crossed over his face again. "You know what he said?" He waited a moment before frowning. "No! He said No!"

Sam began to share the same concern as Tucker, although Danny was still confused.

"Andy _never _says no! Especially like that! I asked him why, and he said that it was _none of my business!"_

Now, Danny noticed something odd. Andy had never spoken back to Tucker—the man was his favourite uncle.

"That's not all; when I told him that you guys would get worried, he said _who cares!_ And then he stuck out his tongue and dashed off!"

Danny tapped his chin while Sam played nervously with her fingers. "Okay, maybe he ate something that made him upset," Danny suggested.

But Sam disagreed. She shook her head. "Andy's _never _spoken that way, Danny," she said. "Especially to Tucker." She looked at Tucker again. "What happened after that?"

"I ran after him, what else?" Tucker replied with a shrug. "I chased him through the park, telling him that if he was worried about something, he could talk to me about it. But he only picked up dirt and _threw _it at me!" Deep concern decorated the black man's face. "Something's _wrong _with Andy, Sam; not only has he never said anything like that to me, but he's _never_ thrown _dirt _at me unless we were both playing mudballs in the backyard."

Now, even Danny was concerned. He crossed his arms and looked at Sam as the woman spoke: "Where is he now?" she asked worriedly.

Tucker pointed at the park. "Somewhere in there, playing ghost," he said. "After he threw dirt at my glasses and knocked them off, I lost track of him. That's when I came to find you. I swear, he was perfectly fine before I went to look for that stupid camera. Do you think he's sick or something?"

Suddenly, Danny's ghost sense was activated, and his breath came out as thick mist. He gasped softly and looked at his breath before crouching down in a defensive position and looking about.

Sam and Tucker stared at him. "Danny, do you sense something?" Sam wondered.

Danny looked at her. "Yeah," he replied. His breath came out visible again. "Actually, I think I sense more than just one."

"Where do you think it's coming from?" Tucker asked.

Danny looked about once more before he caught sight of something on the junglegym behind his friends. He gasped and leaped onto Sam and Tucker. "DUCK!" he cried, shoving them to the ground.

All three fell in a pile, just as three rocks came flying in their direction.

"What the _heck?"_ Tucker exclaimed as he looked up. "Were those _rocks?"_

"Who threw them?" Sam cried out.

The giggle of a boy suddenly caught their attention. When they looked up, Andy was peering over the bridge of the jungle gym, laughing at his parents.

"Andy, did you throw those rocks?" Sam asked, not the least bit impressed as the adults raised themselves to their feet.

Andy peeked through the bars of the bridge. "Yeah," he replied.

"Haven't I told you already that that's dangerous? You could have hurt someone!"

The five-year-old stuck out his tongue. "So what?" he replied sourly.

Sam raised her eyebrows in shock and looked at Tucker.

"Told you," Tucker replied worriedly.

Danny stared at him in concern before daring to take a few steps forward. "You guys stay here," he said. "I'll see if I could get through."

"Isn't that a little risky, dude? I mean, he just tried to stone us."

Danny looked at him for a moment as he continued to walk cautiously towards the playground. _I don't believe that Andy did that intentionally,_ he thought.

Andy did not seem pleased that Danny was approaching. He frowned and crossed his arms. "Go away!" he said angrily. "I wanna play by myself!"

"Andy, you just threw rocks at us," Danny said sternly, stopping at the foot of the jungle gym. He frowned. "And you hurt your Uncle Tucker a few minutes ago." He pointed at the pebbles beneath his feet that formed the grounds of the playground. "I want you to come down here right now and go say sorry."

Andy grimaced. "No!" he said.

"Yes."

"Make me!"

The more Andy talked back, the more concerned Danny was about this odd behaviour of his. But he did not show it, knowing that the boy would probably feed off of his father's emotions; instead, he stood his ground, exactly the way his mother had when he was a child, and continued to point at the ground beneath his feet. "Come down, _now,"_ he scolded.

Andy picked up another rock. "No!" he yelled. "You can't make me!" He tossed the rock over the bridge at his father.

Luckily, Danny had expected this move and went intangible. The rock sailed straight through him and landed on the gravel beneath his feet.

Andy pouted and stomped his feet. "You can't do that! That's no fair!" he yelled.

"I won't ask you again," Danny continued. "Come-down-NOW, Andrew Fenton."

"NO!"

Danny crossed his arms and his eyes glowed green. "Fine, then," he replied. Then, without warning, he disappeared.

Andy, even Sam and Tucker recoiled in shock and wondered why Danny had gone invisible.

The five-year-old searched the area frantically for his father until suddenly, two hands came up from beneath the bridge and grabbed his waist. Andy shouted in surprise and fought to break free before he turned intangible and phased through the bridge. Once he had done so, Danny reappeared beneath the bridge, holding his son in his arms.

"Let me go! Let me go!" Andy shouted angrily, pounding his fists against Danny's chest.

Danny held him out at a distance as he walked out from beneath the bridge.

"You're a monster! LET ME GO!"

Danny received a swift kick in the gut, but even when he doubled over in pain he held onto his son until he had regained his feet. Then, he tucked the child under his arm and continued on towards Sam and Tucker. "Okay, either he's eaten a really _sour _apple," the man said with a frown, "Or else there's something _seriously _wrong here."

"How the heck did you get him that easily?" Tucker said in awe. "Not counting the ghost powers, of course."

"My mom may _look _like all she cares about are ghosts," Danny announced, "But the one thing I learned was how to stand up to a kid. When Jazz and I misbehaved, she became the big bad wolf, and trust me; she had us pinned to our bedroom floor within seconds if we didn't listen... Well, not literally, but she was a good discipliner."

Andy continued to kick and scream angrily, calling Danny a monster and shouting things like _I hate you _or _you're no fun._

Sam stared at him worriedly. "What should we do with him?" she asked.

Danny sighed as he tried to control the child. "I don't think either we _or _our folks will be leaving this place happy or unembarrassed if we let Andy sit at the meal," he said. He looked at Andy. "I don't get it; he was happy and cheerful the entire afternoon. What's gotten into him?"

"Maybe he's not feeling good," Sam suggested. "He may have a stomach ache but doesn't want to tell us."

Tucker looked over his shoulder in the direction of the meal before sighing and looking at his best friends again. "I can let your folks know that Andy's tired," he said. "They'd understand that. You guys should get the kid home in case anything worse happens."

"You sure?" Danny said.

"Sure, I'm sure. No one likes a misbehaving kid, and with the way Andy's going, things will only get worse if he's forced to sit in public when he doesn't want to."

Andy growled loudly and slapped his hands against Danny's legs. "I don't wanna go home! I wanna stay here an' play!" he yelled. "You're a mean ol' monster! LET ME GO!"

Danny sighed and looked at Sam again. "Let's just get him home before he bites my leg off," he said tiredly. He looked at Tucker again. "Thanks for doing this, Tucker. Maybe you should take the evening off too."

"Like to, but considering my position as mayor, that would look bad," Tucker replied. "My mom's probably got an extra shirt for me anyway in her truck. I'll let your folks know where you went and everything should clear up." He began walking off and tried smiling encouragingly at them. "Don't worry, guys; he'll probably get better in the morning." He waved goodbye and walked around the bushes that led to the clearing where the tables were set.

Danny and Sam watched him leave before looking at each other. "You can stay if you want," Danny suggested. "You're better in public than I ever was."

"He's _our _kid, so we might as well wade it out together, Hero," Sam replied with a tired sigh. They both began walking off towards the car. "Besides; I'm the only one who can drive the car, remember?"

"Wouldn't be, if I was allowed to overshadow you," Danny mumbled stubbornly.

* * *

The drive back home was incredibly quiet. At first, Andy complained and complained, shouting insults that were directed to his father, but after several minutes, the boy fell silent. Neither Danny nor Sam dared to ask why, nor did they look behind to see what he was up to.

It was only when they arrived back home did Danny notice something strange. While Sam got out of the car and headed straight for the front door, Danny opened the back passenger's door to let his son out. The door swung open and he waited for Andy to step out, even _run_ out and dare to escape.

But to his confusion, the boy did not exit the vehicle.

"Andy?" Danny said. He leaned down. "Are you going to come out or did I need to carry you again?"

To his surprise, Andy was still sitting in his seat, buckled in; but he had his knees up to his chin and his arms crossed over them. He was staring at the back of the passenger seat before him, but what had startled Danny was that he was not staring at the seat furiously; instead, Andy's eyes were filled with fear and shame.

Danny blinked once before he cleared his throat. "Uh, Andy, do you feel alright?" he asked gently. "Did you want Mom to make you something warm to eat?"

Andy did not look at him, but he shook his head silently. Danny waited a moment longer before speaking up again. "Is there something you want to talk to us about?" he asked very softly.

Andy looked at him without moving his head, and Danny saw that his eyes were desperately saying "yes." But what came out of his mouth was completely the opposite:

"No," he squeaked. "Not yet."

Danny stared at him worriedly and then nodded his head slowly, not finding anything else to talk about. Then, he stood up and stepped aside, indicating to his son that he had to get out of the car.

Andy unbuckled his seatbelt and slid out of the car. Once on firm ground, he walked towards the house, head hanging low, and did not even look up at Sam when he climbed the front steps and walked by her.

Sam watched him climb the stairs once he had entered the house and then looked at her husband worriedly as Danny came up the front porch. "Did he say anything?" she asked.

Danny looked at her and shook his head. "No," he replied. "Not yet."


	2. Chapter 2

_**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** Wow, I didn't think I'd get over ten reviews already. It's only been one chapter!_

_Anyway, this is a little message I wanted to give to my **deviantart watchers who don't have a fanfiction profile:** If you want to leave me a message about the story, send me a note, and I will put them in a folder called **Double Trouble.** Make sure to add the initials **DT** in the title of your note so that I know it isn't spam or anything. ;)_

_Okay, here we go!_

* * *

At first, it seemed that Tucker's words had been true; when Andy woke up, he got dressed, ran down the stairs and sat down to have breakfast while waiting patiently for his mother to give him his cereal. Danny came down a few short minutes later, carrying a suitcase with him.

"They called you in again?" Sam guessed as Danny set his luggage down by the door.

Her husband sighed and stretched his arms out. "Yyyeep," he replied with a yawn. "I leave in two days."

"That's short notice. You going to the moon again?"

"Not this time. I have a few more blueprints for my space shuttle that I'd like to get overlooked before I take her out in a month or two with my new crew. Lieutenant Jones wants to get a good look at them with the engineers. Then, once that's through, I'll use the rest of the week to stay in correspondence with the Space Station. They've gotten new satellite images from Hubble and their sending the _Explorer III_ to check it out."

Sam rolled her eyes amusingly; ever since Danny had become an official astronaut and Captain for NASA, he became incredibly giddy every time he spoke about something that had to do with space.

"Good thing you're part ghost," she said as he walked into the kitchen. "Or else this probably wouldn't interest you as much."

"Nuh-uh," Danny disagreed. "I've wanted to be an astronaut since I was eight, Sam."

"So, what's this about your new crew?"

"I'll be getting one for our first Special Mission in a month or so. They're all training them right now." Danny smiled deviously and rubbed his hands together. "And the best of the best will be allllll miiiine to command," he added.

Sam chuckled softly before continuing to pack her son's lunch. Danny looked over his shoulder at his son and then leaned towards Sam's ear. "So, uh, how's Andy this morning?" he wondered.

Sam looked at him. "He's better, I guess," she replied. "He hasn't spoken yet, but he hasn't done anything out of the ordinary, either."

Danny sighed.

"Maybe he _wasn't _feeling good yesterday. I heard that kids will sometimes act strange if they don't feel well."

Danny turned and leaned against the counter. "At least that's good," he said. "You'll be off at work today so I'll get some cleaning done while he's at school. Then I'll take my Corvette and pick Andy up. I'll have supper ready for you by five. Sounds good?"

"As long as Andy doesn't go haywire like yesterday, I think that's a great plan, Stay-home-Dad," Sam said with a clever grin.

Danny frowned at her before walking up to the bread box and pulling out two slices. "I'm not a stay-home dad," he muttered stubbornly, making her giggle. "I just work differently than you do. And I get paid more to do it. So _there."_

Sam laughed softly as Danny began spreading peanut butter over his bread.

* * *

Sam dropped Andy off at school and Danny set to work cleaning the house up. He did not expect to be interrupted at all when he got to the basement and started organizing his ghost lab.

Unfortunately, when you're a Fenton, you need to expect trouble.

Danny wiped his forehead and stared at the giant room he had just swept. The basement occupied a storage room, the laundry room and the giant laboratory where Danny stored his Astronaut gear as well as all of the ghost weapons his wife used. Most, of course, remained at his parents' house, considering they were too dangerous for him to use, but he also had a Fenton Speeder, which would come in handy if Sam ever needed to enter the ghost Zone with her husband.

And for a speeder, you needed ample of space.

"Thank goodness I'd only use this area for astronaut stuff and entering the ghost portal," Danny sighed. Tucker was still on the road of creating the separate parts for Danny's ghost portal, so all there was on the back wall was… well, the steel wall itself.

"At least the cleaning is done in here," he muttered, setting the broom aside. "Now, to get the laundry done—!"

The sound of the phone ringing upstairs caused him to freeze until he heard the cordless on the table ring as well. He sighed and wiped his hands off on his pants. "Okay, what's going on now, Dad?" he groaned, expecting it to be his father with the need of his ghost powers again. Danny picked up the phone, pressed the talk button and held the receiver to his ear. "Hello?"

"_Dr. Fenton?"_ came a man's voice.

It took Danny a few seconds to recognize the voice, which was not his father's. "Oh, hey, Mr. Lancer," he said, remembering that his highschool vice president had become the elementary school principal. "How's it going?"

"_Not too bad, today,"_ Lancer replied. _"It's a considerately good day, for a Monday."_ He paused before sighing. _"But I didn't call you to chitchat about the weather or my emotions, Daniel… even though I still am fairly curious on how you disappeared for five years and came back unexpectedly."_

Danny laughed nervously. "Heh, heh, you know I was never good with directions or people," he muttered behind his teeth. "So… what's up?"

"_Well, I suppose since you're the one who answered, Sam isn't available?"_

"Unfortunately no. She's at work today. You're stuck with me."

"_I suppose so… Anyway, the subject of my telephone call is your son, Andrew."_

Danny froze at the name. He remained silent as the principal continued to speak.

"_He's been acting a little... let's say _strange._ Or unacceptable."_

_Oh, no, _Danny thought worriedly. _Please don't tell me—!_

"_He's acting very rude and completely out of the ordinary, which is quite strange, considering what a good student he is,"_ Lancer finished. _"We tried to send him to the office, but he just snapped back and ran around the corridors. It took us several minutes to finally calm him down and get him to sit still. I don't like interrupting your day, Danny, but… would it be possible if you came in person so that we could talk about this in private?"_

Danny was already sweating. Not only had he never completely been on good terms with his old high school teacher, but he was beginning to worry about his son's behaviour again. The look in his eyes from the night before returned to his mind, and made his heart sink even lower into his stomach.

"_Uh, Dr. Fenton?"_

Danny blinked several times before clearing his throat. "Um, sure," he said softly. "I'll come in right away."

"_Thank you. I'll see you in a few minutes, then."_

"You… you betcha."

Danny pressed the _end _button and slowly put the phone down without even saying goodbye to the principal. He leaned against the counter and stared across the room before picking the phone up and dialling Sam's cellphone number.

* * *

It was the first time Danny had ever been in the principal's office for a meeting which did not revolve around something he had done wrong; instead, it was about his son.

Entering the school at the age of thirty made him wonder what his parents may have thought of at his age.

Sam rushed over from work immediately and joined Danny in the principal's office with Mr. Lancer. Sitting on a chair in the hallway was Andy, but he did not seem the least bit upset about the trouble he had caused; in fact, he seemed almost pleased about it and smiled deviously every time his parents or his principal cast a look at him through the window. He swung his legs back and forth, not caring if he accidentally kicked someone who walked by.

Danny had noticed his breath become visible again, but hardly had a chance to consider it when he and Sam were ushered into the office.

Andy's kindergarten teacher was present as well. To Danny's surprise, though, she and Lancer did not seem the least bit angry about the child's behaviour; instead, they seemed more concerned.

"Andy's always been one of the quietest and best behaved children in my class since he began school," the asian woman announced. "He's never acted in this manor before."

"We figured that perhaps he's bottling something up that he doesn't want to let us know about, so he acts strangely," Lancer added. "Has he… been having any more difficulties with William Baxter?"

Danny opened his mouth to reply, but Sam quickly took charge of replying herself. "Uh, not as far as we know," she said. "At least, if he does, it never seems to honestly bother him too much."

"Perhaps he needs to see a doctor, then," Lancer guessed. He looked at Danny. "Will both of you be available if anything out of the ordinary happens again?"

"Unfortunately, I'm being called on short notice to NASA on Wednesday," Danny replied. "And I'll be gone until next Friday."

"Then I suppose the Mayor would be the next line of support after your parents. Is he available, Sam?"

"For Andy, always," Sam replied with a nod.

Lancer nodded. "Then I suppose for today, you can take him home for the rest of the afternoon," he said. "There isn't much more we can do, but considering you'd have to come back in an hour to pick him up anyway, I figured you would rather just take him back now. Is that alright?"

Danny rubbed his chin and looked at Sam before looking at the principal again. He noticed the look in his eyes seemed to say, "please take him; we can't handle him for another second."

He sighed after a moment and nodded his head. "Alright, I'll take him home now," he said quietly. He turned and walked to the door. "Sorry for the trouble."

Sam followed closely behind him and had her husband close the door once she had passed.

They walked into the hallway and told their son that it was time to go home. The boy shouted angrily at them and stomped his feet, which eventually led Danny to picking him up again under his arm and carrying him aloft to the exit. Again, Andy threw insults at him, but unlike the ride home from the park the day before, Andy did not fall silent.

Once at home, the boy jumped out of the car without waiting for his parents to park both vehicles and dashed into the building and up to his room, where he slammed the door shut and did not come out until dinner.

* * *

**_AUTHOR'S NOTE:_**_ I know this chapter may have been considered short to some of my readers, and I think the following one is as well. But there will be long ones eventually._

_Note that at breakfast, Danny just ate peanut butter bread instead of popping it into the toaster. In the episode where the ghost Amorpho makes himself look like Danny, Danny was noticed eating a slice of toast. Tucker commented that Danny hated toast._

_So that's why he isn't eating toast.^^_


	3. Chapter 3

Wednesday soon came, and Danny almost hated to leave his wife behind to tolerate their son. On Tuesday, Danny had been busy helping Tucker with some moving in Town Hall, so Maddie and Jack had been instructed to pick the boy up after school. The principal did not call, but MAddie did inform her son that Mr. Lancer had stopped them as they picked the boy up and told them of his abnormal behaviour.

What had really begun to worry the Fentons was the fact that Andy had absolutely refused to enter the basement with his grandparents. He never said why, but he did threaten to make a mess if he wasn't left alone. He steered away from his grandparents and hardly spoke to them. He went to play in the backyard but only ended up making mudpies, which he then threw against the house and windows.

Danny continuously saw his breath throughout the passing days that led to Wednesday, but he was too busy being concerned over his son to worry about another ghost. Something was wrong with Andy, and Danny was quite aware that Andy was not in control of his actions; every night, when Danny got up to get a glass of water, he could hear the boy crying quietly in his room.

When he was taken to the airport by Sam, Tucker and Andy, he was almost reluctant to get on the plane.

"I feel really horrible leaving you here alone with him in this condition," Danny whispered as Sam hugged him tightly.

"I've had to tolerate him _and _Tucker while you were in the Ghost Zone, Danny," she whispered. "Don't worry about it."

"I can't help it. Something's wrong with Andy, but he's not telling us anything."

Sam kissed his cheek and pulled herself away from him. "Just go to work and try to forget about it," she said. "Tucker and I will take him to the doctor this afternoon to see if anything's wrong."

Danny nodded weakly before looking at his son. Andy was staring about, teetering on his toes while almost trying to think up another plan.

"Be good for your mom, Andy," Danny said, catching the boy's attention. "Is that clear?"

Andy blinked and then rolled his eyes before waving an arm before him. "Yeah, yeah, whatever," he muttered in annoyance.

Danny passed a hand over his face and sighed tiredly.

"Don't worry, Dan," Tucker announced, catching his attention. "Everything will be fine. Nothing we can't handle."

Danny looked at him before finally moving towards the gates. "Fine," he said. "But… call me if there's any trouble, okay?"

"You got it, dude."

Danny forced himself to turn away and walked towards the gates. Once he passed them and looked back, he found it impossible to see his friends anymore.

_I… just hope nothing will go wrong,_ he thought worriedly.


	4. Chapter 4

The week at NASA seemed to drag by. At first, Danny hardly noticed because he was busy going over every detail on his ship with the engineers and the director of NASA, Lieutenant Jones. He pointed out what needed to change and what needed to be repaired before he took it out for the first mission. Danny had had the chance to test fly it to the space station with a few fellow astronauts the first time he came to NASA after his five-year absence, and had found only a few things that needed to be changed or improved.

But once those first few days were up, it was too obvious to Danny that something was going wrong at home. Never before did he so badly want to get back to Sam and Tucker in order to check up on his five-year-old son.

Something was wrong; that's all that passed through his mind as he did his job or rested at night. Something envolving Andy was _dreadfully _wrong.

Eventually, his behaviour was noticed by Dr. Johnson, NASA's head scientist and Danny's mentor. Johnson, who had known already for several years of Danny's ghost-hunting secret, knew far too well when something was bothering his pupil, and he knew when the right time to speak to him about it was.

Danny took the day on Monday to finish writing down information for the engineers. He spent hour after hour in his office, writing, rewriting and typing things on his computer. He studied blueprints and images. His ship had to be the fastest and most protected against any ghost attacks, but had to go without a ghost shield in order to allow him to fly it. It was a complicating procedure, especially for just one man to do it, but in order to keep his identity secret, he had to work on this alone.

A soft knock came on the door of his office. Danny raised his head and looked over his shoulder. "Come in," he called out.

The white door opened slowly and in poked the grey-haired, moustached head of Dr. Johnson. The scientist grinned and looked at him over his glasses. "Hard at work, my boy?" he said, entering the room. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"Not really; I was in need of a break," Danny replied, setting his pencil down and turning around in his chair. He looked up at the scientist. "Did you need my help with something, Doctor? Another mission into the Ghost Zone for some samples? Or did you find something that you need me to identify?"

"Actually, Daniel, I was hoping I could be of assistance to _you,"_ Johnson replied, closing the door behind him. He pulled out an extra chair and sat down across from his student.

Danny stared at him in confusion. "Help _me?"_ he said. "Well, if you have any ideas for improvements on my shuttle, then I guess—!"

"It has nothing to do with NASA, Danny," Johnson interrupted. He looked at the man with gentle eyes. "It has more to do with… something that's obviously troubling you."

Danny raised his eyebrows in surprise and then looked away worriedly.

"Is there something that is making you feel… nervous, Daniel? You know you can tell me anything."

Danny sighed and rubbed his neck. "My son, Andy," he said. He looked up at the man. "You remember him, right?"

"Of course I do. He's far too adorable to be forgotten."

"Well, he's been acting… sort of… out of the ordinary lately."

Johnson looked at him curiously. "Out of the ordinary?" he echoed.

"Yeah," Danny replied. "Like, he's been doing mean things and acting rude at school. He talks back to Sam and me, he throws things at Tucker, he refuses to get anywhere near my parents and he's… well, he's been calling me really… hurtful names… We thought at first that it was because he wasn't feeling very well, but now… it's…" Danny sighed and placed his head in his hands. "It's worrying me that I left home to come here while Sam may need me to control him. She's never seen him this way, and frankly, I'm not too keen about it myself."

Johnson listened carefully as Danny continued to explain to him what had taken place at the fall supper, and how it seemed as though it was getting worse. Once the astronaut had completed his story, Johnson cleared his throat while thoughtfully rubbing his short beard. "This does sound unlike Andrew," he said.

"Maybe he just doesn't like me as a father anymore," Danny guessed sadly. "Maybe he liked it better when it was just him and Sam."

But Johnson shook his head. "That is highly unlikely if you ask me," he said. "When I first met your son, he told me personally that he could not wait to have you home. He knew all of your moves, all of your powers, all of your stories and enemies by heart; it's simply not possible that he could just change his mind." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully again and frowned. "No; there must be something more to this whole problem." He looked up at Danny again. "Did you not tell me that your ghost sense has been going off every time you are near him?"

Danny shrugged. "Yeah, which kinda had me thinking that something was up," he replied. "But I never figured that it was tied to him. Especially if I was sensing more than one ghost."

"I think that perhaps you should start dwelling upon that matter, Daniel," Johnson said sternly. "If your ghost sense goes off each time you are near your son, then maybe the two are connected somehow." He placed his fingers together. "When you are not working on communications with the Space Station, I need you to think about this. There _must _be a reason to why you are sensing something around your son, _and _why he is acting so strangely. Obviously, even his teachers know that something is wrong, so I would suspect that once you find out the reason why these two are connected, you will be able to find a way to change your son back to normal."

Danny stared at him in silence, wondering how it was that Dr. Johnson had so much faith in what the astronaut could do. "Are you sure?" he asked.

Johnson smiled and looked at him over his glasses. "If there is one thing I've learned about you, Danny, it's that you are not one to back away without a fight. You fought hard to get into NASA. You fought bravely to return home after five years. If there is anyone on this planet who can figure this out, it's you."

Danny grinned weakly before looking down at his hands. "You make it sound so easy," he said.

"Not easy, just interesting," Johnson corrected him. "Be optimistic, Daniel; I'm sure you will figure this out soon."


	5. Chapter 5

Rain was falling from the sky Friday evening when Danny arrived back home from his week-and-a-half at NASA. It had been the second time he had gone since he had returned home from being trapped in the Ghost Zone for five years. And every day he spent back home still felt better than the day before.

However, this past week had been a little more different than what Danny could have hoped; Andy's behaviour was the cause of it. On any normal day, Andy Fenton was a cheerful, innocent and all around polite child. His teacher said he was an apt pupil; their neighbours thought he was cute; the man at the ice cream parlour always said hello to him; his grandparents loved him dearly; his Aunt Jazz and Uncle Tucker showered him with gifts and fun.

But all of a sudden, Andy refused to be held. He refused to say please and thank you. He caused trouble at school. He even played pranks on other children. It was with a reluctant heart that Danny had left for work that week, worried his son would get worse, and when neither Sam nor Tucker had given him a call, it made him even more concerned for Andy's well-being.

_I've only known him for a few weeks now, but it feels like I've known him since the day he was born,_ Danny thought as he closed his umbrella. _And after what Tucker and Sam have told me about him when I first came home, he's exactly the way I would want a son to be; an honest and fun-loving boy. But then, why has he suddenly begun to change and act like a bully?_

The other thing that had bothered Danny while he was gone was the fact that he sensed a ghost when he was near his son. It was strange, considering that Andy was not part ghost; the boy had only inherited two of his father's abilities, which made him only an ordinary human being with two supernatural powers. His body did not contain enough ectoplasm for him to be sensed by other spectres of hybrids. Was he suddenly beginning to become half ghost like his father? Were his two powers only the beginning?

Danny had done what Johnson had asked him to do: he thought for the rest of his week in Texas about why his ghost sense went off near his son. He wrote a list of reasons, many of which he ended up crossing out anyhow. But it had opened up a new mystery for Danny, a mystery he was now determined to solve, for both his wife and his son.

Danny turned the doorknob and entered the giant house that Sam had bought for them several years earlier. He put his suitcase and luggage down on the bench and undid his rain jacket. "Hey, Sam," he called out. "I'm home."

"How was the flight?" Sam called back from the kitchen.

"Bumpy coming down, but what else is new?"

"You took a cab here?"

"Yep."

"Sorry I couldn't pick you up. Tucker had his hands full with another Danny Phantom story the press wanted answers to, and I was afraid to leave him alone with Andy in this state while I went to work."

Danny hung up his jacket, played through his hair in order to get some rain out of it and walked into the house.

Sam was going over another assignment her boss gave her to do and wrote down notes. Her things were scattered all over the kitchen table.

Danny walked into the room. "How… how _is _Andy?" he asked softly.

Sam sighed and shook her head before looking up at her best friend with worried eyes. "I don't know," she said worriedly as her husband walked over. "His teacher called in last Friday again and said that she's getting seriously worried about his sudden change of personality. Mr. Lancer suggested that I keep him at home for a few days to see if that calms him down. So he… hasn't really been to school… all week."

Danny stopped behind her and placed his hands on the chair.

"He doesn't talk to me anymore, he doesn't let me hug him or read him stories anymore, and he went to bed locking his _door._ Andy _never _locks his door. He's _never _done it because he was scared that I would get hurt at night and he'd need to rush in and save me." Sam tapped her fingers nervously against the table. "And his eyes started to change colors, Danny," she added. "They turn red or purple. It's really weird, and it's _totally _freaking me out."

Danny placed his arms around her and leaned down to kiss Sam's head. "Don't worry, Sam," he whispered while placing his head on hers. "We'll figure this out. We'll just need Mom to run a few tests."

"Tests?" Sam echoed, looking up at him in concern. "Danny, your mom isn't a doctor."

"No, but she's a ghost expert."

"But what if this has nothing to do with Andy's powers?"

"Maybe it doesn't, but it wouldn't hurt to just try. I did some thinking while I was at NASA and considering I've been seeing my breath around Andy lately, there must be some kind of problem."

Sam stared. "You mean… you sense a ghost?" she said worriedly.

"I'm not sure, but I've got a pretty big haunch that there _is _one nearby."

Sam seemed uncertain. "I don't know, Danny," she said softly. "I don't want to put Andy through those tests without asking him. He's only five years old. I don't want him to get hurt."

Danny remained silent for a few moments before sighing and kissing Sam's cheek. He knew how much Andy meant to her. She had given birth to and mothered him for five years already. "Alright," he said softly. "We don't need to get my mom to do anything just yet. Let's wait and see how he's feeling for another day or two and then we can ask him, okay?"

Sam seemed more comfortable with this choice. She nodded and looked up at Danny. "Could you go check on him?" she asked. "He'll hear me if I unlock the door. Could you phase through just to see what he's doing?"

Danny hesitated but then complied, noticing the worry in Sam's voice. So he left the room and climbed the stairs to the second floor.

* * *

Danny turned intangible and stuck his head through the door to his son's room.

Everything was quiet, save the soft _pit-pat_ of the rain outside on the window and the thunder in the sky. Everything was in its place, except for a few toys spread over the ground.

There was a small lump beneath the covers of the bed. Danny stared at them before watching as his breath came out visible.

_Again,_ he thought. _Why is it that my ghost sense goes off around Andy if he's not a ghost?_

Silently, he phased through the door and turned solid again before walking up to the bed. There, he sat down beside the lump and placed his hand on it. "Andy?" he said softly after a moment.

The lump seemed to jump at the voice but remained silent. Danny waited a moment before speaking again. "I just came back from work," he stated. "I'll be here for a few more weeks. So that means that we'll be able to do things together again, just like I promised." He waited a few seconds before continuing. "Uh, your mom is a little worried about your attitude lately, though. She wanted me to come and talk to you about it—!"

"Are you really back home, Daddy?"

Danny was startled to hear the meek and quiet voice he recognized as his son's. He stared at the covers. "Um, yes," he replied. "Why?"

The boy beneath the covers squeaked. "Because I need you to save me."

These words struck Danny with incredible concern. He immediately slid off of the bed, got onto his knees on the floor and carefully held up the corner of the covers to look beneath them.

Andy stared back at him with his big blue eyes, his body curled in a ball in his little blue pyjamas. But tears stained his cheeks and made his eyes red at the edges. Immense fear was in his eyes.

Danny stared back at him in worry; these were certainly the eyes of his five-year-old son, but the fear in them was alarming. "Andy, do you feel sick?" he asked worriedly.

Andy shook his head silently but did not take his eyes off of his father.

"No? No tummy ache or anything?"

Again, Andy shook his head.

"Then what's wrong, Squirt? Why do you need me to save you?"

Andy seemed to hesitate in telling him. He cried softly when he did. "There's a monster in my head," he squeaked.

Danny stared at him worriedly. "A monster?"

"Uh-huh. And it's makin' me do bad stuff. I can't make him go away. He says he'll hurt you and Mommy and Uncle Tucker and everyone else if I try to make him go away. He says mean things about you, and that he'll make me hurt Danny Phantom if he has to." Andy's tears rolled down his cheeks. "I don't wanna hurt you, Daddy. Please get the monster out of my head."

Danny became more and more concerned for his son's safety. If there was a monster in Andy's head, then there was a good chance that a ghost was overshadowing him. "If there's a monster in your head, do you know why he's letting me talk to you right now?" he asked as calmly as he could. On any normal occasion, a human being overshadowed was not strong enough to speak freely _or _remember certain events.

Andy shrugged. "Sometimes he gets tired during the day when he plays too much, so he sleeps at night," he replied. "It used to happen all the time, but he never gets out, and he says that he's getting stronger every day. He says he wants to stay in my head. Forever." Andy broke into tears. "I don't wanna have a monster in my head, Daddy," he sobbed. "Please get him out of my head. He won't let me hug Mommy when I'm scared, either. Please save me."

Danny knew now that something was up. Somehow, a ghost he had not been able to sense before it entered his son had gotten inside Andy's head and was controlling him. And only Danny knew that the longer a ghost stayed in a human's body, the more it would take control of it, and the weaker the human would get.

If this ghost had been in Andy's body for over a week now, it was certainly a lot stronger than it had been in the beginning.

Danny waited a moment before reaching over and placing a hand on Andy's head. "Ssssshhh," he whispered, stroking the boy's hair. "Don't worry, Andy; I'll find a way to help you. You just need to be patient, okay? You gotta be strong. Do you think you can do that for me?"

Andy sniffed loudly. "I dunno," he replied. "I don't think so when I'm scared, Daddy."

"I get scared all the time, Andy. I get scared of _ghosts, _remember? Remember how I told you that ghosts scared me a lot when I was your age? Ghosts don't scare you, right?"

"… Not really…"

"So you need to promise me that you'll be brave and you'll be patient, okay?" Danny whispered. "I'm gonna need to figure out what the monster wants, so for that, you're going to have to be patient, okay?"

Andy nodded weakly.

"You promise Daddy that you'll be patient?"

"Okay."

Danny forced himself to smile and then leaned over and kissed the boy's head. "Don't you worry about a thing, okay?" he said. "We're gonna get that monster out of your head before you can say, _Danny Phantom."_

* * *

**_AUTHOR'S NOTE:_** _So yes, most of you suspected that a ghost was overshadowing little Andy. Although he's convinced that it's a monster-and everyone knows that little boys and girls are scared of monsters-Danny is one hundred percent sure now that it's in fact a ghost._

_The story is starting to move along, people! Hang onto your seats! The adventure only gets better from this point on!_


	6. Chapter 6

Sunlight came with Saturday morning, and just as the alarm clock in his bedroom rang, Tucker groaned tiredly and reached over to slap it. Once it had been silenced, he slowly sat up and stretched his arms out.

"Yay, Saturday," Tucker yawned. He walked up to his closet and pulled out his bathrobe. "Nothing scheduled today, so that means no conference, and no annoying reporters."

He grabbed some clothes and went to the washroom to take a shower. If the alarm did not wake him up, the warm water would.

Once he had cleaned himself and gotten dressed, he returned to his room and put his glasses over his eyes. Then, once everything was ready, he went downstairs to have breakfast.

He had no servants, despite the size of his house. When he was a child, the idea would have thrilled him; never having to do your own chores seemed like the perfect life. But now that he had gotten that far, he cherished his privacy in his large house, and often found fun ways to mop the floor or clean the windows; all he had to worry about was whether a ghost was spying on him or not.

"Okay, Tucker, my man; let's see what we have here for breakfast, shall we?" he sighed loudly upon entering the kitchen. He looked through the fridge. "Hm, let's see; we've got eggs, bacon, ham… ooh, some pizza!" He pulled out a slice of left-over pizza and grinned. "Nothing's tastier than a good bite of cold, beef pizza in the morning." He opened his mouth.

But just as he was about to take a bite, the doorbell rang, nearly taking him by surprise. Tucker raised his head and looked to the entrance. "Huh?" he said. He closed the fridge door and walked out of the kitchen. "Who the heck could that be at _this _hour?" he wondered, straightening out his yellow sweater. He reached for the doorknob and opened the door.

To his bewilderment, Danny was standing on the other side. "Tucker, you need to come over to my parents' house, _right _now," he said urgently.

Before Tucker could ask why, Danny grabbed him by the arm and pulled him out, hardly giving the mayor time to grab his beret and brown shoes.

* * *

Danny had explained to Sam the night before about what Andy had told him. So, instead of waiting another day or two, Danny insisted that they take Andy to Fenton Works for a scan immediately the next day.

Sam decided not to argue; if a ghost had indeed overshadowed her son, then they had to get it out as soon as possible.

The first thing Danny did when he woke up was drive his red Corvette across the neighbourhood to his best friend's house. And with not as much as a _hello, _he yanked Tucker out of his comfort zone and dragged him over to his parents' house. There, once he had managed to wake up both his mother and father, Danny explained to them what Andy had told him, shared with them his conclusion, and instructed Maddie, Jack and Tucker to get the lab ready for a ghost scan.

Once that was through, Danny returned home and helped Sam direct their out-of-control son into the Phantom Sports Car.

"I don't _wanna _go," Andy pouted angrily at the back of the car. "I want to go play outside! I don't wanna go visit Gramma and Grampa!"

"You're going whether you like it or not," Sam scolded him from the driver's seat. She looked at Danny as the man shivered and hugged his body. "Are you okay, Danny?" she whispered worriedly.

Danny looked at her as his eyes glowed blue. "Y-yeah," he whispered. "I've just got a bit of a shiver, no thanks to whatever ghost I'm sensing."

"Are you sure Andy told you that there was a ghost in his head?"

"No; he t-told me that there was a monster in his head. But since _monsters _can't overshadow people, I figured it was a ghost."

"And you're positive about your haunch?"

Andy groaned loudly from the back and kicked the passenger's seat as hard as he could. "LET ME OUT!" he yelled. "I don't _wanna _go to Fenton Works! I don't _wanna _go where Daddy wants me to go! LET ME OUT!"

"_Stop _kicking my seat!" Danny snapped loudly, turning around and glaring at the child. Once the boy had fallen silent, the astronaut turned back in his seat and sighed, watching his breath come out visible again.

Sam stared at him in shock. "And you're _sure _you just yelled at a ghost?" she asked.

"Sam, stop asking me if I'm _sure _about things," Danny whispered annoyingly. "That's not Andy. That's a ghost. The only time Andy can properly communicate with me is when it's night time. But for how much longer, I'm not sure." He stared at the horizon. "That's the _only _thing I'm not sure of."

The boy in the back stuck his tongue out. "I hate you guys," he hissed coldly.

Danny groaned and refrained himself from snapping again. Sam seemed to do the same. "Okay, fine, I'm convinced," she said. "That's not Andy. So if it's not Andy, I hope your mom will know how to get whatever's in my kid _out."_

* * *

Maddie and Jack had gotten the scanner into place on the ceiling while Tucker moved the examination table into position. Just as they were finishing, Danny came hurrying down the stairs to the basement. "He's here, but we'll need something to blindfold him," he announced.

"Blindfold?" Maddie echoed in confusion. "Danny, first you tell us that a ghost has overshadowed our grandson; and _now _you're telling us to _blindfold _him?"

"The reason Andy's refusing to go into the basement is because the _ghost _knows that you guys are _ghost hunters!"_ Danny snapped back. "If he figured out that we're taking him to the basement, then he'll freak and run off! I don't care if any of you believe me or not; Andy told me last night, I saw the truth in his eyes, so I'm gonna do whatever I can to set him _free!_ Got that?"

Neither his parents nor Tucker said anything more. All they did was look at each other and then nod their heads.

Danny nodded back. "Make sure everything's set," he said before turning and running back up the stairs. "We'll need to make the scan as quickly as possible."


	7. Chapter 7

**_AUTHOR'S NOTE:_**_ Major headache taking on as I post this. Had my first day of mandatory worshops at university. Classes start next week. _

_I'm happy to see so many people enjoy my stories, though if you catch anyone reading this one and they haven't read the two before, let them know that they should read those ones first, considering I will be making continuous reference to those two in this adventure and the next ;)_

_Happy to see Andy's being loved so much by his fans. I never expected my OC fancharacter would become so popular. I have some Rataouille stories I want to post, but I'll try to consider it after this one. I may post two stories at once, for everyone's pleasure :D_

* * *

"Why are you putting a bandana around my _eyes?"_ Andy asked annoyingly as Sam tied the piece of cloth in place.

Once Sam had backed away, Danny reached into the vehicle and helped his son onto the driveway. He and Sam then each grabbed one of Andy's hands and led him towards the house. "Because your Grandma has a surprise for you inside," Sam fibbed. "She told us that you had to be blindfolded or else you'd ruin the surprise."

"And you know how much you _love _surprises, right?" Danny added, trying to sound convincing.

Andy seemed to contemplate this. "Hm… Yeah, I guess I do like _some _surprises," he said.

Danny sighed softly and shared a relieved look with his wife.

They helped him up the front steps and then opened the door to enter. Once inside, Sam let Andy's hand go and Danny picked the boy up in his arms.

"Hey! Why are you pickin' me up?" Andy asked suspiciously.

Danny looked at Sam as they headed for the basement. "We, uh, your Grandmother just finished cleaning the floor," the astronaut replied. "And considering your shoes are dirty from playing in the mud, we can't have you walking around and getting the floor stained again."

"But I _like _getting stuff dirty."

"Not this time, Andy."

The boy groaned loudly. "Then where is the surprise supposed to be?" he asked.

Sam cleared her throat. "Uh, upstairs," she said as they reached the basement stairs and began descending.

"Then why does it feel like we're goin' _downstairs?"_

"We're going _upstairs,"_ Danny replied quickly behind his teeth. "We're not going down, we're going _up."_

They continued down the stairs until finally reaching the basement. There, Danny immediately raised a finger to his mouth and told his parents and Tucker to remain as silent as they could be.

It did not seem to matter to Andy. The boy raised his head and looked about blindly. "Where's that humming coming from?" he wondered.

Danny widened his eyes as his father covered his mouth; the ghost portal was active, which meant that even though the door was closed, it still hummed.

"And why are there flashin' lights? I can see flashin' lights through the bandana."

"Those are… uh, Christmas lights," Sam announced as Danny stopped at the experiment table. "It's part of the surprise."

"But it's not Christmas yet."

"Well, we needed _some _kind of fancy lighting."

Danny carefully set the five-year-old down on the table and made motion by his head that his parents and Tucker were to approach incredibly quietly; as soon as the blindfold would be off, they had to strap the boy down with the ghost-proof restraints.

"What am I sitting on?" Andy asked incredibly suspiciously. "An' why is that humming still humming?"

Danny bit his lip nervously. The more questions the boy asked, the closer he became to unveiling their plot.

Danny slowly let go of the boy. "It's nothing, Andy," was all he could find to say.

"Nothing?" the boy echoed.

"Y-yeah; nothing."

There was a moment of silence, just as Maddie, Jack and Tucker had reached the table. Andy seemed to be listening closely to the sounds around him, and when he gasped softly, Danny realized that he had noticed something.

"You're _lying!"_ Andy exclaimed angrily, raising his hands and fighting to pull off the blindfold. "I'm not upstairs! I'm in the _basement! _An' I'm not hearin' nothing! I'm hearin' a _trap!"_

Just as he said those last words, he managed to pull the bandana off of his eyes and glared furiously at Danny. His eyes flashed red. "It's a TRAP!" he growled.

Danny frowned back. "NOW!" he ordered.

Simultaneously, he, Tucker and Maddie and Jack grabbed the child and began forcing him to lay down against the table. Andy screamed loudly and tried breaking free.

Sam stood on the sidelines, desperately praying that her son would not be harmed.

"Pin him down, but don't _hurt _him!" Danny instructed. "He's still overshadowing Andy's body!"

Andy yelled furiously and kicked his feet. He threw out fists whenever he could. Tucker recoiled quickly, just missing a punch. "Easier said than done, Danny!" he struggled to say.

"Whatever ghost is overshadowing him, it's a really powerful one!" Jack added.

Danny continued to push down against the five-year-old until finally, they had managed to pin him flat against the table. Maddie and Jack worked quickly at securing the ghost-proof restraints around the boy's wrists, waist and ankles, and placed one around his forehead as well to keep him from moving it. When they stepped back, Andy had been securely strapped to the table.

The boy shouted angrily as he tried to break free. "LET ME GO! LET ME GOOO!" he hollered.

Maddie and Danny immediately ran to the computers as Jack and Tucker backed away while pointing ghost weapons at the table. Maddie madly began typing in commands. "A fast scan isn't going to give us very much, Danny," she said urgently.

"I don't care," Danny replied. "All I need to know is that there really _is _a ghost in there and what its weaknesses would be."

His mother grabbed a lever and began to slowly pull it downwards while turning her head and looking up at the ghost scanner that hung over the table. Slowly, the large, telescope-shaped machine began to move downwards while pointing its ray of light at the boy.

Andy continued to fight against the restraints. He growled and squirmed as much as he could, determined not to be scanned.

Danny watched the boy fight back until a sound behind him caught his attention. He gasped softly and turned around, finding that a few objects that were sitting about on the counters and the computers were haloed in red light and began to shake.

Sam noticed it as well. She turned around quickly before looking at her husband and sharing a concerned look.

When the items around the lab began to rise a few inches, even Tucker and Jack turned and looked about. "What the _heck?"_ Jack said in shock, pointing his gun at the items.

Maddie looked about as well. "Telekinesis!" she gasped. She looked at Danny. "It can move items with its mind!"

The boy continued to growl until finally he opened his mouth and hollered as loudly as he could; the only problem was that what came out was not the voice of a five-year-old, but a powerful ghostly wail, nearly twice as powerful as the one Danny could unleash.

Danny covered his ears and shouted in pain as he sunk to his knees. Sam immediately rushed over.

"It _knows _that _power?"_ Tucker cried out over the wail.

All the items around the lab immediately began to fly about madly, threatening to bring harm to anyone who was over five feet. Tucker, Jack and Maddie shouted in fright and ducked down while covering their heads.

"Danny! Danny, can you hear me?" Sam shouted over the wail as she held onto her husband's shoulders.

Danny _could _hear her, but the ringing in his ears was blocking most of her voice out. He screamed in pain and pressed his hands harder against his ears, hoping the noise would cease.

"If that ghost knows Ghostly Wail, then it's _definitely _strong!" Maddie said worriedly as she crawled over to her son. "We need to make it stop before it sends Danny into a coma!"

Andy's body became haloed in red light as well, and out from the masses of flying objects flew several sharp weapons. Jack pulled Tucker lower to the ground as a few whizzed over their heads and headed for the table.

"ANDY!" Sam screamed while reaching out.

But the weapons did not harm the boy; instead, they sliced straight through the restraints that held the child down, releasing him from his prison.

Andy ceased to wail and immediately jumped to his feet. He leaped into the air, hovering high above everyone present, and held up his fists as they too began to glow.

Danny pulled his hands away once he was sure the wail had finished and placed them flat on the ground in order to support himself. He breathed loudly as his mother and his wife placed their hands around him for support.

"You're a _fool,_ Danny Phantom!"

Danny rubbed his head before looking up at where this teenaged voice came from.

It came, in fact, from Andy. The boy glared furiously at the astronaut, his now red eyes glowing brightly, just as his body did. "Did you _seriously _think that you'd be able to hold us down like _that?"_

"_Us?"_ Tucker echoed in confusion.

Danny ignored him. He rose to his feet slowly before getting into ready stance. "I _knew _I sensed a ghost," he said deeply.

Andy smiled deviously in return and laughed. "_A_ ghost?" he mocked. He blinked, and when he opened his eyes again, they had turned purple, as did the glow around his body. "You really _are _clueless."

Everyone stared in shock at the boy when a second teenaged male voice emanated from his mouth. This one was slightly higher than the first.

"Andy's overshadowed by _two?"_ Sam exclaimed. She looked at Danny. "That's why your ghost sense was going off more than usual!"

Danny frowned at the hovering child and bared his teeth. "That's not possible," he hissed.

Andy laughed again. "Hello; did you honestly expect _one _ghost to be able to trick you _this _far?" He blinked and turned red. "You're dumber than I thought."

"What are you doing in Andy's body?" Danny demanded.

Andy shook his hands before him. "Oh, no! Daddy's getting mad!" he said in a patronizing tone. His eyes turned purple and he threw his head back and laughed.

"Danny, your temper is obviously not doing any good here!" Maddie pointed out.

Danny looked at his mother for a split second. "What do you want me to do, then; _negociate?"_ he snapped. "Two ghosts in _one _human body is bad enough; but they're inside my _son's _body!" His eyes glowed green. "That makes it personal!"

The halo of white light formed around his waist and split into two, sweeping over his entire body. Once they disappeared, he was standing in the same position, but with white hair, green eyes, and a black and white jumpsuit with his symbolic D over his chest. A thin white, ghostly glow traced his body as he bared his teeth.

Andy leaned forward. "Whoa, that was actually pretty sweet!" the purple-eyed ghost commented.

Danny crouched low. "I'm giving you one warning," he growled; "Get out of my son's body, or else!"

"Uh-oh, looks like he means it," the purple-eyed ghost said, almost sounding shocked. Andy blinked and his eyes turned red as a devious smile shaped over his lips. "Or else _what?"_ this one taunted.

Danny growled again and held out his fists. Green flames covered them.

Sam gasped in horror.

The red-eyed ghost chuckled. "Would you _really _do something that horrible to your little kid, Danny Phantom?" he challenged.

Danny threw an arm back. "No," he replied. "But I'd do it to _you!"_ He threw his arm forward again and shot a ghost ring at him.

"DANNY, NOOO!" Sam screamed, grabbing Danny's arm only moments after he had thrown his attack.

The ring of energy charged straight for Andy; but all the boy did was smile. He began to glow incredibly brightly, and only moments before he would be hit, the five-year-old did something that startled everyone, even Danny:

_He duplicated._

Danny, Sam, as well as the others, stared in complete shock at this action. "Im_possible,"_ Danny whispered.

The two Andys laughed softly before their given colors covered them from view. "Wrong again, Hero," they said in unison. Once the lights had dimmed, two ghosts stood in the place of the boy. Both looked incredibly identical to each other, one only being red and the other being purple. They seemed to be no older than thirteen years of age, had they been humans. They both had hair that seemed to take upon the shape of either red of purple flames, and both smiled cunningly at Danny.

"That's not physically _possible!"_ Danny repeated in horror, grasping his white hair in his hands.

The red ghost snickered. "Actually, for us, it is," he said.

"We happened to be able to _use _human life force for our own and pretty much join our bodies with theirs," the purple one added. "And I do mean that _literally."_

"But why did you pick Andy?"

"Hello?" the red one said flatly. "To get near to _you?"_ He crossed his arms. "Every ghost in the Ghost Zone is talking about how Danny Phantom is the greatest ghost there ever was, and how he managed to activate the power of Ultimate Control."

"Dude, do you know how _huge _that is?" the purple one added.

Danny glared at them and got into ready stance again. "I don't care if it's as big as front page news," he growled. "I want you out of Andy's body _now!"_

"Shouldn't that be plural?" Tucker pointed out.

The red ghost laughed. "Are you _seriously _expecting us to get out of here?" he mocked. "Bro, your kid's got some _ghost _powers. That's even _more _human energy than any other kid we've overshadowed. We like it here—!"

"—and we intend to _stay _here," the purple one added.

Danny growled menacingly and crouched low. "Not if _I _have anything to say about it!" he yelled angrily. He jumped into the air at full speed and flew towards the ghosts.

The two teenagers turned intangible and Danny flew straight through them. They laughed hysterically and flew to the stairs. Both disappeared around the bend, Danny close behind.

Tucker ran to the stairs. "How's it physically possible that two ghosts could over shadow one _human _body for that long?" he said. "Danny and I weren't even able to do that for five _minutes _when I had gotten ghost powers that one time as a teen."

"Forget _that!"_ Sam said urgently, running passed him while shoving her friend out of the way and heading upstairs. "If we don't stop Danny, he's going to _kill _Andy!"

* * *

**_AUTHOR'S NOTE:_** _Actually, DO keep what Tucker said in mind, folks; he raises a good point, and there is a very good reason why they can last that long in a single human body._

_When he said "when I had gotten ghost powers that one time as a teen," I'm referring to the episode **What You Want** in Season One of Danny Phantom. Tucker overshadowed Paulina, and then Danny did the same. They argued before leaving. I thought that it would be interesting if there was a good reason for that, and I thought that maybe because Danny and Tucker did not last long in Paulina's body together, it was because there is simply not enough room or energy for two ghosts to overshadow her._

_Anyway, time for a bit of sleep for me. My head's killing me. Hope the cliffhanger kills you all! MUHAHAHAAHA! Nah, just kidding._


	8. Chapter 8

The two ghosts led Danny on a chase around the house until they decided to take it outside. It was plain to the hero that these ghosts were skilled—they had obviously done some overshadowing before. They dodged anything that came in their way, even Danny's attacks if he shot any at them.

"Oo, I think he's getting mad, Bro," the purple ghost teased.

"But we haven't _done _anything to him yet," the red one added sardonically. He turned around and flew backwards while staring at Danny. "So let's give him something to chew on!"

He raised his arms in the air and managed to pick up a parked car nearby with his mind. Danny noticed it only when the vehicle was headed his way, but luckily he had enough time to dodge it. The red ghost tried tossing another car at him, but again, Danny evaded it.

The teenager's eyes flashed red with frustration. "Come on!" he snapped. "You can't be _that _good!"

Danny dodged a flying trashcan and glared back at him. "I've been doing this for sixteen years, kid," he said as his eyes began to glow blue. "If you think I'm about to let a punk beat me, THINK AGAIN!"

He shot ice rays from his eyes and aimed them at the two ghosts.

The red one gasped and flew over the ice. "He's got ice powers!" he said.

"Cool!" the purple one added. "Should we get that too?"

"Naw, we've got better stuff than that, but keep it in your mind just in case. Give him one of your wails!"

The purple ghost turned around, just as his brother had done before, and took a deep breath. It let out a strong ghost wail, just as it had earlier, though it was not as strong as the first.

Unfortunately, it was enough to cause Danny to stop flying and cover his ears. He groaned painfully before flying backwards out of control and running into a tree. People who were in the park shouted in fright and dashed off to a safe distance.

"Whoo-hoo! Bull's eye!" the purple ghost cried out, giving a high-five to his partner.

Danny moaned and shook some sense into his head before daring to stand up. As he did, the two other ghosts floated down towards him.

"Not bad for a bunch of _punks, _eh, Phantom?" the red ghost said with a sly grin.

Danny rubbed his head before glaring at them. "What do you want?" he asked.

"Duh; we wanna know how to use your Ultimate Control Gift, dude," the purple replied, spreading out his arms. "With a ghost power like that, we'd be unstoppable!"

"Even more powerful than you," the red one added. "You'd be a thing of the past. A nobody. And considering _our _teamwork, we'd be _double _the trouble you'd _ever _have to face!"

Danny held his fists at the ready. "Think again, Kid," he said. "I'm not using that power just for show, so if you want to beat me, you'll have to do it fair and square!"

He inhaled as much air as his lungs could hold and then let it all out in a powerful ghost wail. The two other ghosts placed their hands over their ears and shouted in pain before being sent flying through the air into the side of a building nearby.

Danny stopped his attack and flew towards the troublemakers.

"Whoa! That was more powerful than mine alone!" the purple ghost said in shock after shaking some sense into his head.

The red one glared at Danny as he approached. "If he wants to play hardball," he said, "Then let's give him a good pitch."

They flew into the air and shot ghost rays at Danny simultaneously. Danny dodged every attack and shot back the same amount. They chased each other between buildings, and every now and then an attack sailed wide and threatened the life of a civilian; Danny would then have to abandon the battle for a few seconds and get the human out of harm's way. Then, the chase would continue.

"Get out of my son's body!" Danny ordered furiously.

"Make us!" the red one replied as he looked over his shoulder quickly.

"We told you he's got enough energy to last us for ages!" the purple one added. "And we like it!"

"We're not going anywhere until we can imitate your Ultimate Control!"

Danny bared his teeth and growled angrily as his eyes glowed green. "GIVE HIM BACK!" he yelled, shooting one ghost ray after another.

The two ghosts managed to get hit once, shouting in pain. The red one growled in reply. "Fine!" he said. "You wanna play tough, then get a load of _this, _Hero!"

The two ghosts merged together and formed one. Though it continued to glow red, one of its eyes were purple and some of the flames in its hair were as well. The ghost then turned around, took a deep breath and sent out the loudest ghost wail Danny had ever heard.

This time, Danny doubled over in pain. He flew all the way across the street and slammed into the side of a building. Even then, he continued to contort in pain.

The red ghost flew towards him at incredible speed, holding out a glowing fist. Danny looked up and gasped, and once he had managed to regain his balance, went intangible and phased through the building, just evading being hit.

When the chase took place again, Danny was now the one in the lead, with a red ghost on his tail; a ghost that now shot twice as powerful attacks than the two ghosts had been able to before.

_How's that possible?_ Danny thought. _It's as though they can combine their powers together and make double the damage!_ He dodged a flying car and swooped around a building as sharply as he could. _I need to find a way to stop them before they use that ghostly wail again; if they do, I won't be able to go ghost for at least another day!_

He led them back towards the park, trying with all his might to stay a good ways ahead of his enemy; unfortunately, the two ghosts combined were also faster, which made it even more difficult for Danny to escape.

"Show us your Ultimate Control, Hero!" the red ghost taunted.

"Yeah! Show us, show us!" the purple added.

Danny dodged a truck. "I won't use that power!" he shouted.

"Chicken!"

"We just need to see you use it once! So USE IT!"

They shot another ghost ray at him and managed to hit Danny directly in the back. Danny shouted painfully and sailed sideways into an oncoming vehicle before bouncing off of it and tumbling over the grass. The driver stepped on the breaks when the ghost rammed into his car.

Danny slowly raised himself to his feet, although his legs were beginning to shake beneath his weight. He breathed heavily, feeling his energy being drained.

The red ghost laughed. "Look at that; we actually managed to bring down the Zone's most powerful ghost!" he mocked. "And only using a ghost ray!"

"Can we give it to him once more?" the purple one asked eagerly.

The red eye flashed as the ghost smiled deviously. "What an excellent idea," he said. The ghost then charged at full speed towards Danny.

Danny got up and stood as straight as he could before raising his hand. It came up only seconds before the red ghost had collided its fist with his face, and so stopped it dead in its tracks.

The red ghost gasped softly and looked at Danny.

Danny raised his head and opened his eyes, revealing them to be filled with white light. His ghostly glow began to brighten and his hair seemed to be lit by an unseen source of pure white light. Even his boots, gloves, belt and emblem were glowing. The ghost clenched his teeth and wrapped his hand around the red ghost's neck, squeezing it tightly. His enemy gasped for air and placed its hands around Danny's glowing hand.

Danny narrowed his eyes. _"Give back my son,"_ he hissed menacingly.

The red ghost stared at him in shock before frowning back. "Do you honestly think… that we'll be stopped… _that _easily?" he said. "Dream on, Hero; show us a piece of your power if you're brave enough to do it!"

Danny growled and held up his right hand. An orb of white light formed over the palm as he aimed directly for the ghost, ready to take it down.

The red ghost smiled cleverly at this and took the opportunity to transform. Once the light had faded away, in its place was a five-year-old boy with blue eyes and black hair. He stared fearfully at the ghost that had a hand wrapped around his neck.

Danny gasped softly and raised his eyebrows, suddenly aware of what he was about to do. He could not harm the ghost like this unless it was separated from the child's body, lest Danny wanted to kill his own son at the same time. Slowly, the ghost lowered his hand and the orb of light in it faded away. The light in his eyes did as well, turning them back to normal.

The boy stared at Danny in silence for a moment longer; then, his eyes turned red and he frowned while smiling deceitfully, teeth bared. He began to glow and swung out a fist, hitting Danny in the chest and sending the ghost tumbling backwards across the ground, only to come to a stop at the foot of a statue that stood in the park.

The boy transformed back into the red ghost, and then this one duplicated, creating the purple ghost as well. They walked up to Danny and stood over him.

Danny struggled to raise himself onto his feet, but his arms were far too weak. He only fell back against the ground, breathing unevenly.

"You're stupid to honestly believe that we'll just hand over your kid's body like that," the red ghost said. "We told you we liked it here, and we meant it when we said we weren't going to leave. We intend to learn that power by watching you use it."

"If it makes you feel better, we'll still stay at your place, considering there's a bed and food there," the purple ghost added. "And we'll even _look _like your kid."

"But we ain't goin' anywhere," the red ghost finished while narrowing its eyes. "Not by a long shot."

They turned and walked off a few ways before looking back at Danny. "Next time we battle, I hope you'll be smart enough to use that gift of yours," the red ghost challenged. "Don't expect an easy way out. Come prepared. For a bunch of teenagers, we've got double the amount of force that you'd ever _wish _to have." He smiled deviously and saluted Danny. "Until next time, Danny Phantom."

Danny forced himself to raise his head and look at them. The two ghosts merged together again and glowed brightly; when the light had faded away, Andy was standing in their place, looking just like he had several hours earlier.

The boy smiled evilly at Danny and flashed red eyes before turning and darting off into the bushes.

Danny watched him leave before finally letting the rest of his ghost energy go and transforming back to human form. Then he laid his head down and breathed heavily.

Several minutes of silence passed by before he heard rushing footsteps headed his way. Danny opened his eyes and stared at the grass that flowed in the gentle breeze until two leather boots stopped in front of his view.

"Danny!" He felt arms wrap around him and help him get to his feet. When he looked up, both Sam and Tucker had their arms around him, keeping him from falling to the ground in weakness.

His parents were nearby. "Where did he go?" Jack asked.

"Did you find out what they wanted?" Maddie added.

Danny looked at them in silence before replying: "They want to see me use my Ultimate Control," he replied through breaths. He shook his head. "They're the most powerful ghosts… I've honestly ever faced. I mean, when separated, they're just as strong or less than I am, but when they merge together, their powers are double the strength than anything I can create, save my UCG."

"You didn't hurt Andy, did you?" Sam asked worriedly.

Danny shook his head. "Even when I planted an attack on them, they hardly showed any weakness," he replied. "It's as though they can use human energy and transform it into ghost energy."

"That's not good," Tucker said with concern. "If they end up using too much, we'll lose Andy altogether."

"There's gotta be something we could use to our advantage," Maddie said thoughtfully. She looked at Danny. "We could go look it up on your computer; see what kind of ghost they are."

But her son only shook his head again. "There are several different types of ghosts in the Ghost Zone, Mom," he said. He let go of Sam and Tucker and stood on his own. "Billions of them; there's as many ghosts as there are humans in the Real World, and just as many special powers and types of spectres." He crossed his arms and shook his head again while closing his eyes. "I only have information about ghosts that I've encountered. These are the first I've ever seen that seem to learn by just… _watching._"

"But isn't that what you did when you learned all of your ghost powers?" Tucker pointed out.

Danny looked at him. "Mimicking was not a special ability of mine," he said. "And even after I learned a power, I still needed to practice at it in order to perfect it. _These _guys just watch you and they learn it… just like that. That's a special attack if I ever did see one." His eyes filled with concern. "The problem is that they overshadowed Andy just to get close to me. They know I've got Ultimate Control, and they're waiting to see me use it in order to _learn _it. And if they learn it… I may not be enough to stop them."

Sam tugged on his sweater. "Danny, we've got to do _something,"_ she said fearfully. "They still have Andy. If we don't stop them soon, we're gonna lose him."

"Do we have _anything _that could help us figure these guys out more?" Tucker wondered in despair.

Danny looked at him and then stared at the ground in thought. Then, suddenly, a thought came to his mind, as well as a possible solution. He looked at Tucker again. "No," he said, "But I know someone who _does."_

* * *

_****__AUTHOR'S NOTE:__ Oooo, only you guys know how much I love leaving cliffhangers like this. XD Shoot me._

_In the upcoming chapters, you guys will get to meet a new character, and hear a little bit about what Danny had been up to during his five-year isolation in the Ghost Zone. Hope you all got a chance to look at my DP character chart on deviantart! And I thought it would be a neat little addition if there were specific types of Ghosts in the Ghost Zone. Danny's a halfa, or Spectre Hybrid, which only comes around once in a blue moon. And what's even more rare or valuable about Danny is that he's been able to master the power of Ultimate Control. THat's what those two twins want._

_Will they get it? Lol, I know you guys are curious, but just hold your questions about them back until more is explained! 8D I won't answer anything because you'll eventually get the answer, sillies. XD_

_I'll try to post regularily, but university courses start tomorrow. Just bear with me. You'll see the ending of the story, don't worry. ;)_


	9. Chapter 9

They headed back to Fenton Works, each wondering what Danny had in mind. The man did not spill a syllable until they arrived at the house, and even then, he remained silent until they had entered the basement.

"Okay, we're in the house, _in _the basement, Danny," Sam said impatiently as her husband transformed into a ghost. "Will you fill us in with whatever's floating around in that head of yours?"

Danny paused and grinned cleverly. "You want the helpful info or the gross-and-disgusting-boy info?" he asked.

Sam glared at him stupidly while Tucker laughed in the background. The woman groaned and crossed her arms. "The _helpful _info, thank you," she muttered.

Danny secretly smacked his fist against Tucker's before walking over to the Fenton Speeder. "I know someone in the Ghost Zone who may have the answer to our problems," he explained. "An old friend of mine."

"You're not taking us to see _Skulker, _are you?" Tucker wondered, having already guessed that he and Sam would accompany Danny into the zone.

"Not this time. The ghost we're going to see this time is a good one."

Jack tossed his son the keys to the speeder as his wife opened the Ghost portal. "You sure this is a bright idea, Son?" he asked as Danny, Sam and Tucker got into the vehicle. "Two ghosts are parading around town in the body of your five-year-old son, and you guys are going into the Ghost Zone?"

"What other choice do we have, Dad?" Danny replied. "I need to get answers, and the only one who can give them to us lives in the Ghost Zone." He started the speeder up before adding, "Just, keep an eye on him and nothing serious should happen, other than a few harmful pranks. Those ghosts are here to study me, so without anything to study, they won't do any real harm—!"

"Save make our _son _weaker," Sam snapped dryly.

Danny frowned at her. "If you want, go ahead and stay here, Sam!" he said. "If it makes you feel any better, Tucker and I will go in alone! But if you plan on staying, stop blaming the whole thing on me!"

When Sam said nothing, he placed his foot on the gas pedal and headed for the portal. "If anything gets bad, Mom, just contact us," Danny instructed her. "We shouldn't be longer than a few hours. Just keep an eye on Andy."

"If he starts coming to?" Maddie wondered.

"Then get him indoors and make him as comfortable as possible. But we should be back by then."

"… Good luck, Danny."

* * *

Danny drove the speeder through the endless zone as though he knew exactly where it was that he was headed. For nearly ten minutes, he drove in silence, looking at different doors that floated about. Sam and Tucker never spoke; they only sat beside the ghost and wondered where it was exactly that he was taking them.

At one point, Danny leaned towards the windshield, staring out further. "Come on, where's that stupid door?" he muttered.

"What door are we looking for, Danny?" Tucker wondered, pulling out the map of the Ghost Zone. They held it nearby whenever they entered that world.

"One that looks like a steel door. It leads to a Ghost City called _Ectonia."_

"Ecto-_what?"_ Sam echoed.

"Ectonia."

"They have _cities _in the Ghost Zone?" Tucker said in awe. He stared at the map in disbelief. "I've been coming in and out of this zone since I was fourteen, and I've never known that even a ghost _village_ was around!"

"There's plenty of Ghost Cities, Tuck," Danny explained. "Just like there are on Earth. They're just hidden better because this place is so confusing. Ectonia happens to be the Ghost Zone's largest and most populated city."

Tucker and Sam shared an uneasy look. "Oh, heh, heh," Tucker laughed nervously. "You don't say?"

Danny ignored him and continued searching the area until a silver door with giant bolts on it caught his attention. "Ah!" he said with a grin, turning the speeder into the right direction. "There it is!"

He stopped the vehicle on the floating rock platform on which the door was sitting. Here, he placed it into park, pulled the key out of the ignition and stepped out of the vehicle. "Lock it up," he instructed.

Sam and Tucker stepped out of the speeder and did what they were told before following Danny to the steel door. Once there, Danny turned and looked at them before tossing two marble-shaped pills. "Here," he said.

They caught one each and stared at them in confusion. "Uh, what are these?" Sam wondered.

"They're ecto-glow pills," Danny replied. "Kinda like camouflage for humans."

"What do they do?" Tucker asked.

Danny raised an eyebrow. "Why do you think they're called ecto-_glow _pills?" he asked sardonically. "It gives you guys a ghostly glow, like what ghosts have." He gestured to himself. "Like mine." He pointed at their bodies. "It also gives you guys solidness, so that they don't think you two are humans. Considering anything human looks ghost here, you guys need to look real in order to blend in."

"But why would we need that?"

"Mainly for the reason that if a human is caught in Ectonia, you can get in _big _trouble."

Tucker and Sam recoiled in shock and stared nervously at the pills in their hands.

Danny groaned and crossed his arms. "It's just like a ghost in Amity Park, guys," he said. "People will freak out and call the police or something. Only, the police in Ectonia are a _lot _worse than the Guys in White. Trust me, I know. The ghosts in this city are like one huge family. They each look out for each other. So if you don't want to get thrown into jail, swallow the pills. They'll last you three hours at least, five at the most."

His friends stared at each other a moment longer before tossing the round pills into their mouths and swallowing them. A few seconds passed before their bodies were haloed in either purple or yellow light, as well as solidness in Danny's eyes.

"Whoa, this is actually pretty neat," Tucker said amusingly, staring at his hand. "Our voices even sound more like a ghost's."

Danny grabbed the handle on the door and pulled it open. "Come on," he said, letting them through. "We need to get going."

* * *

_**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** So now we know something new about the Ghost Zone: there are cities, just like in the Real World. Danny's going to take Sam and Tucker to the zone's biggest city. Keep the name Ectonia in mind, guys. It will come back in certain fanfics that follow this one._

_Ecto-glow pills... Heehee, Danny's feeding them drugs! XDDD Naw, it's just a special pill that, like Danny said, gives humans tangibility in the Ghost Zone, as well as a ghostly glow. He feeds these to Sam and Tucker, as well as anyone else, when he takes them back to populated areas such as Ectonia. The police aren't evil, but like a ghost is alien to humans, a human is alien to ghosts._

_Anyway, I'll try to post the next one either tomorrow or some other time this week. Thanks for all of your support, guys!_


	10. Chapter 10

The streets were crowded and filled with music and voices when they entered the ghost city. To Tucker's amazement, it resembled, both by ear _and _by sight, a city like Tokyo or Paris. The streets were narrow and buildings, particularily residential buildings, were built on top of each other, not beside each other. Giant sky scrapers reached for the green sky of the Ghost Zone. Ghosts, those that looked more human and those that looked more supernatural, floated or walked by, chattering loudly.

Danny led Sam and Tucker into the crowded market street and looked about.

"It's like… Jerusalem or something," Tucker said in awe. "They hardly act ghost at all. They actually act a lot… a lot like humans."

"Surprising, huh?" Danny replied with a grin. He entered the street and walked off, followed closely by his wife and best friend. "I was pretty startled myself when I first came here."

"When was that?" Sam wondered.

"A few months after being locked in the Ghost Zone five years ago. I stumbled upon it when Skulker started chasing me, and to my surprise, I found this place. There's over 7 million ghosts that live in Ectonia. It's really a neat place to be if you get lost."

They walked on in silence for a few minutes; Danny knew that Sam and Tucker were busy taking in every detail they found and every resemblance they noted between their world and the Ghosts' world. As they were led out of the crowded market area, the entered a more wide highway, one where ghosts zipped by quickly. Hardly any of them rode any type of large vehicle. If they did, it was no larger than a motorcycle or a small two-man car.

"I'm dreaming! I'm totally dreaming!" Tucker gasped, pulling on his beret. "Sam, are you seeing this?"

Every area seemed different from the first, but every area was similar to different cities on Earth. Ghost merchants tried selling goods to them; ghost singers played guitars in the streets; ghost children flew by, chasing each other while giggling.

"I'm seeing, but I'm not believing," Sam muttered in awe.

"It's the most amazing thing I've ever seen in my life!" Tucker added. "Ghosts living like… _humans!"_

A ghost suddenly bumped into Danny, causing the hybrid to stumble to one side. Sam and Tucker froze, wondering if he was in trouble; they knew that Danny's reputation in the Ghost Zone was not entirely a positive one.

But to their surprise, the ghost that bumped into them quickly reached over and helped Danny steady himself. "Sorry about that, Mr. Phantom," the ghost said politely before tipping his hat.

Danny dusted himself off. "No worries," he replied. "I should watch where I'm going."

Once the other ghost continued on his way, Tucker and Sam rushed over to Danny. "Did he just… _help _you back up?" Tucker said in shock.

Danny looked at him. "Yeah," he replied.

"But I thought ghosts _hated _you, Danny!" Sam said. "You're a Ghost Hunter!"

"Well, yeah, I am. But I'm also a hero." Danny continued on down the sidewalk, leading them off. "The ghosts that live in crowded areas like these aren't all _bad, _guys. Most are incredibly friendly. They all know who I am, but because they don't hold a personal grudge against me, they don't _hate _me."

"But you hunt ghosts and trap them in your Thermos."

"But that's because they come onto our side to cause trouble. The ghosts that don't cause trouble, I don't hunt. It's the same way here. If I'm not causing trouble, then they don't have a reason to lock me up."

Tucker and Sam looked at each other in awe. "That's the _weirdest _thing I have ever heard a ghost _not _doing," Tucker muttered.

Danny secretly rolled his eyes to one side while grinning.

They walked on for several more minutes. Children who dashed by waved happily at them and greeted Danny; men tipped their hats; merchants shouted out joyfully. Some even shot back curious looks, like the ones Sam and Tucker were sending to them.

Danny greeted each ghost who greeted him with a wave, a salute or a smile. At one point, he stopped and said hello to a passing ghost, almost as though he knew him personally.

It was only at that moment did Sam and Tucker begin to suddenly realize just how much Danny had learned during his stay in the Ghost Zone: he knew every street as though he had lived there for years; he spoke to certain ghosts as he did to people in his hometown. He rubbed the heads of passing children if they ran into him. When they passed some teenaged ghosts playing basketball in an alley, Danny rushed over, stole the ball, made a slam dunk and then returned it after giving a high-five to one of the players. During his five-year stay in the Ghost Zone, searching for his human body, Danny had made this dimension his home-away-from-home. With nothing else to do, he had needed to get acquainted with the area.

He finally turned down a dimly lit street, entering an area that almost looked like a Chinatown neighbourhood. The street was so narrow, in fact, that you could only fit two people side-by-side while walking.

Ghosts were sitting on the front step to their house, reading something or smoking oddly shaped pipes. Children played games and giggled softly. Soft music was played in the distance over an oriental instrument.

"This is either getting too real or too _weird,"_ Tucker muttered while looking about.

"Try too _weird,"_ Sam replied.

Danny looked from one house to another until a young ghost boy ran up to him. "Welcome back, Mr. Phantom!" he said politely while bowing.

Danny grinned in reply. "Nice to see you too," he said. "Is—!"

"Yep, she's right where she usually is, Sir."

"Thank you."

As the boy continued on his way, Danny stepped over a sleeping ghost dog and turned down an even narrower alley.

"Who's _she, _Danny?" Sam wondered as she and Tucker followed him in single file.

Danny looked over his shoulder at her. "The ghost we're going to see," he replied. "She's very old and very wise; if anyone can help us save Andy, it's her."

They walked on in silence until Danny stopped in front of the doorway into an old building. The front of the building resembled an old Chinese house.

The ghost-man stepped onto the porch and walked through the open doorway. "Come on," he whispered as the others followed closely behind.

The smell of herbs filled the air with a strong aroma when they entered the house. Tucker was amazed by this. _I didn't know ghosts could make things smell so… real,_ he thought in awe.

Danny looked back at his friends for a moment before starring around the old house. "Hello?" he called out. "Is anyone home?"

"I thought it was you I sensed up the street."

All three turned their heads to another doorway that was covered in a curtain of beads. A short, slightly hunched hooded figure parted the beads and floated into the same room as them. Two small hands came out from the sleeves of the dark burgundy robe and pushed back the hood that covered the person's face from view.

Tucker and Sam raised their eyebrows. It was an old lady, with grey and white hair, tied in a bun. She had a pale face yet rosy, round cheeks, and despite the wrinkles and folds that suggested her to be quite advanced in age—for ghosts, that is—her face did not look as old if you did not examine it closely.

The white-glowing ghost lady smiled warmly at Danny while placing her hands and sleeves together before her. "You still have that same nervous step when you come around the corner," she added.

Danny grinned in reply and bowed politely. "It's nice to see you again, Ma'am," he said. When he noticed that neither Tucker nor Sam had done the same, he frowned at them and nudged their sides until they groaned painfully and bowed as well.

The old lady laughed very softly at this. "Newcomers, I see," she said as all three straightened out. "You must be here on business, strictly."

Danny held out a hand in Tucker's direction while placing his other in Sam's. "These are my friends that I spoke to you about," he said. "This is Tucker Foley, my best friend—" Tucker waved as politely as he could "—and this is Sam… my wife."

The lady laughed again and clasped her hands together. "Ah, yes, the young woman you said you had your heart set on," she announced. "Yes, I do believe I remember _seeing_ you daydream of her quite often."

Sam looked at her husband while grinning. Danny turned his head away and blushed.

"So you did marry her, did you? I always knew you would…"

Tucker cleared his throat softly. "Uh, Danny?" he said. "Mind finishing the introductions, please?"

Danny blinked and then let go of Sam's hand. "Right," he replied. He walked up to the old woman and held out his hand to her. "Guys, I'd like you to meet Lady Sadina. She's one of the Ghost Zone's most _powerful _ghosts."

"Though not the youngest," the woman added with a wink.

Tucker stared at her in surprise. "_She's _one of the Zone's most powerful ghosts?" he said. He rubbed his chin. "She sure doesn't _look _powerful," he muttered.

Sam glared at him and punched his shoulder, making the man groan in pain and rub it. Lady Sadina giggled softly. "Hee, hee, humans were always so entertaining," she said.

"Lady Sadina is over five hundred years old," Danny added. "She knows more about every type of ghost power than anyone else does in this realm."

"Five _hundred?"_ Tucker said in disbelief.

Sadina giggled again and tugged on Danny's jumpsuit. "I like his spirit," she said. "He feels like a dancing flame, ready to burst!"

Tucker blushed and stuck his hands in his pockets while Sam laughed behind her hand. "Tuckah is on fiyah!" Sam teased while nudging the mayor's side.

Tucker glared at her. "Put a sock in it, Sam," he muttered as the woman continued to giggle.

"He has energy, life… and plenty of intelligence," Sadiny continued, catching their attention again. She looked at the hybrid. "I see why you value his friendship, Danny."

Danny grinned in reply and looked at his best friend. "Lady Sadina is a Senser," he explained. "She can sense different energies in ghosts and humans, as well as their emotions, their thoughts, their dreams, everything. This allows her to make certain predictions about the person. She's also great at medicine making, healing, and she makes _delicious _cookies."

Sadina laughed softly at these words while Sam pointed at her. "You mean, you can cook food for humans?" she said.

Sadina nodded. "When Danny came here, I made him a few treats," she explained. "Although he had no physical body, which made him lack the hunger or the taste buds you humans have on your tongues, he still needed to energize himself with human food. If he ate in his ghost form, his physical body would still get nourishment in some way, and remain strong and healthy."

"When Danny _came _here?" Tucker echoed. He and Sam looked at Danny. "Mind filling us in on how you know this Lady Sadina, Dude?" he asked.

Danny placed his hands together. "When I got stuck in the Ghost Zone and came to Ectonia," he explained, "Lady Sadina was the one who helped me get acquainted with the city and how it worked. She showed me how to get around, she gave me a place to stay for the night, but she also gave me maps to study." He looked at Sadina and grinned. "No thanks to her, I practically know the entire Ghost Zone by the back of my hand," he said.

"You were a _bad _pupil when it came to studying maps," Sadina said, shaking her finger. "For a ghost hero, you hardly knew even a speck of the Zone."

Danny shrugged before looking at Tucker again. "Lady Sadina didn't only help me get back on my feet while I was stuck here," he said; "She also taught me how to use the power of Ultimate Control."

"She _taught _you?" Sam said in awe as Tucker gaped. "But I thought no other ghost has ever unlocked it."

"Because she's a senser, Sadina was able to teach me how to focus my energy and conserve it. It took several months to nearly three years of my time in the Zone for me to be able to properly use my gift without killing myself. That's why I can use it now without losing my human body."

While Sam simply looked on in wonder, Tucker was immediately enthralled. "So _she's _the secret to your success here?" he said with a grin.

Danny eyed him stupidly while both Sadina and Sam giggled.

Tucker shrugged in reply before looking at Lady Sadina again. "Um, considering you actually _taught _Danny how to control that uncontrollable power," he said, "I can certainly see now why you're one of the most powerful ghosts in the Zone. Danny's certainly not easy to train."

"Hey!" Danny exclaimed.

"Come on, Dude; you and I _both _know how unstable your emotions can get. Not to mention helping you when you first _got _your powers was a pain in the gut… and I do mean that literally."

Danny crossed his arms and stuck out his tongue. After a moment, Sadina cleared her throat and placed her hands together. "Although it is very nice to see you again, Danny," she said, catching his attention, "I sense that you are not here to simply say hello."

Danny looked at Sam. As the graveness of their situation returned to mind, they both shared a worried look before he turned to the old ghost again. "We need your help, Sadina," Danny began. "Our son's been overshadowed by _two _ghosts. They've been causing trouble in town and they refuse to get out."

Sadina rubbed her chin thoughtfully before looking up at Danny again. "There were two, you say?" she said.

"Yes."

"And how old is your son?"

"Five years old."

Sadina's face suddenly became incredibly serious. She frowned. "This is grave, indeed," she said, turning and floating towards the beaded doorway. "Come, all three of you; follow me."

* * *

While she asked her husband to remain at home and watch the Ghost Portal, Maddie left with the RV in search for her grandson. She knew that she would probably meet the two ghosts instead, but she still had to get the child to safety, at least until his parents returned.

She walked cautiously through the park, holding up a ghost blaster in case she was in need of it. "Andy?" she called out. "Are you there, Sweetie?"

The afternoon was growing late, which meant that if the ghosts slept at night, then Andy would be conscious again and in need of nourishment. And considering the amount of energy the two ghosts used that day to fight Danny, she knew that Andy would be incredibly weak.

"Come on, you stupid ghosts," the woman challenged while turning in a circle and pointing her weapon at the treetops. "Come on out if you dare. You guys will need rest, so no use in hiding. Come out!"

There was rustling in a few bushes ahead. Maddie gasped softly and swiftly turned in that direction, pointing her blaster. After several seconds of no extra movement, she cautiously walked towards the noise. Arriving there, Maddie stuck the end of her gun into the bushes, waited and then pushed them aside violently while shouting angrily. She pointed the gun, ready to fire what was there.

The five-year-old boy she had known to be her grandson was lying against the grass, eyes closed, clothes dirty and face incredibly pale. He moaned weakly and shifted his head.

Maddie raised her eyebrows and gasped before tucking her gun away. "Andy!" she said, reaching down and picking the child up.

Andy moaned again and weakly placed his arms over his grandmother's shoulders. He did not open his eyes.

"Sweetie, are you okay?" MAddie asked worriedly. "Do you feel sick? Do you want Grandma to make you something to eat?"

The boy only moaned again and rested his head on his grandmother's shoulder. "Mommy," he whispered. "Daddy."

"Your Mommy and Daddy are gone to visit a friend who can help you," Maddie explained while stroking the boy's back. "How are you feeling, Andy? Is the monster awake?"

"… No… He's tired."

"That's good… That's really good."

"I don't feel good… I want Mommy and Daddy."

Maddie hushed him as she turned and walked towards the streets where she parked the RV. "Don't worry, Cupcake," she said. "We'll get you feeling better in no time. I promise."

* * *

_**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **Lady Sadina was the second good DP OC I created. She appears in most stories mainly as a guide to Danny, and even Andy at times. Why? XD Well, considering Danny can often goof up a mission if he doesn't look before he leaps, it's essential to have at least ONE ghost who's patient enough with him but still a stern teacher._

_I mean, SOMEONE had to teach him how to use his UCG, right? Don't worry, more of that will be explained in the following chapters, as well as more about those ghosts that are overshadowing Andy._

_Another flashback moment: this time, it refers to my short story **Training a Ghost.** Remember how Tucker was constantly getting rammed in the gut by Danny when his best friend tried and failed at turning intangible or landing smoothly? Tucker recalls that when he says ".. Not to mention helping you when you first __got _your powers was a pain in the gut… and I do mean that literally."

_Anyway, I finally found a small job during my studies, so thank you to all of you who prayed for me! God bless!_


	11. Chapter 11

Lady Sadina clapped her hands and all the candles in her giant _seeing _room, as she called it, lit up with dim flames, most a pale green or orange, casting a soft glow over certain objects. She hovered over to a bookshelf and began searching for something. "Tell me exactly what has been happening, Dear," she said seriously.

Danny, followed by Sam and Tucker, entered the room and watched Sadina search. "About two weeks ago, we started noticing changes in our son's behavior," he explained. "He would play pranks on people, shout angrily, talk back and always throw things. He nearly gave Tucker a black eye, refused to be anywhere near Sam, and kept calling me insulting names."

"What is his name?"

Sam stepped forward. "Andrew," she replied. "But we call him Andy for short."

Sadina pulled out a book and let it float in mid air for a moment. She turned around and floated up to Sam. She beckoned Sam to lean down a little. Once she had, the short lady placed a hand over Sam's forehead and closed her eyes.

Sam stared uncertainly at her before giving a glance to her husband, standing beside her.

Danny made a gesture to remain calm. "She's reading your memories," he said. "She can filter through them to find certain things, kind of like a book."

"Does that mean she can tell the future?" Tucker wondered.

"No; she can only sense things that _could_ be and read what has already happened."

Sadina remained silent a moment longer before pulling her hand away from Sam's head. "Andy Fenton, five years of age, short in stature yet a swift runner," she said softly. "He has inherited his father's looks, I see…" She grinned here and looked at Danny. "As well as two of your ghost powers," she added.

Danny grinned weakly.

"Though I sense he is not half ghost… No; if he was, I would have sensed a much stronger presence of ectoplasm in his DNA."

Sam stared at her in awe. "You found all of that out by just reading my thoughts?" she said in shock.

Sadina tapped her head. "Memories are precious story books, my dear," she replied. She turned away. "I also sensed great concern in your heart. You mothered him alone for five years, while the boy's father was trapped in another dimension. You love Andy with all your heart; I can see why his well-being concerns you. You are a good mother, Sam."

Sam placed her hands together and looked down at them in silence.

Sadina walked up to her floating book and opened it. "Tell me more, Child," she said, addressing her words to Danny.

Danny blinked and cleared his throat. "Well, I kept sensing ghosts around him, but I never figured out why until the night I came back from NASA," he explained. "When I went upstairs to check on him, Andy was conscious, and he told me that a monster was in his head, making him do the things he did. He had been threatened into cooperating, and was told that the monster slept at night, but was getting stronger every day. _That's _when I figured that he had been overshadowed by a ghost…" He looked on in worry. "But I had no idea that it was actually two."

"I personally didn't think that it was physically _possible _for two ghosts to overshadow the same person for a long period of time," Tucker added. "Wouldn't that either drain the human completely of energy or just drive the ghosts insane or something?"

Sadina looked over her shoulder and grinned. "You have a sharp mind, Tucker," she replied. She turned back to her book and continued to flip through it as her face became stern once more. "Tis true; more than one ghost in a single human's body could bring serious damage to all three beings; however, this child is not an ordinary human. Andy has ghost powers, just like his father. It may only be a sliver of them, but it is ghost anyhow. And because of this small amount of ectoplasm in his DNA, Andy had a little more energy to spare than any other human being. He has the energy of a ghost, just like Danny."

"But Danny's not easily overshadowed by ghosts anymore," Tucker pointed out. "If he's got more energy to spare when he's human, why is it that he can still resist overshadowing ghosts? Wouldn't the amount of energy he has just make it easier for a ghost to control him?"

"Again, another good observance. Danny has had sixteen years of practicing, Dear. He's learned how to resist certain attempts on him if he is expecting them. A ghost could always get through, but it would not last for long, considering Danny would eventually find out that he is being controlled by an outside force. Unfortunately, Little Andy does not have his father's experience, nor does he possess Danny's endurance and strength. A child is much easier to overshadow than an adult, and they possess more energy, which makes them vulnerable to attacks."

"But that _still _doesn't explain how _two _ghosts could overshadow Andy at the same time," Danny said urgently. "_How is that possible?"_

Sadina continued to flip through the book until she came to a certain page. She trailed her finger over it before turning to face the three adults. She held the book up to them. "Were _these _the two ghosts?" she asked.

Danny, Sam and Tucker stared at the image on the page and recoiled in shock while gasping.

"That's them!" Sam exclaimed, pointing at the photo of the purple and red ghosts.

"It's those two teenaged ghosts!" Tucker added.

Sadina closed the book cover and set it aside. She floated up to the giant transparent cauldron she had near the window and began to stir its contents with a long stick.

"Do you know who they are?" Danny asked as he and the others followed her.

Sadina hummed deeply while frowning. "I do," she replied. "Many of the more powerful ghosts know of them. Most of the Observants do as well. They are a rarity among our kind."

"A _rarity?"_ Tucker added worriedly. "Is that good or bad?"

"Not good. When two ghosts are born at once, they can become incredibly dangerous."

Danny, Sam and Tucker stared at each other in shock. "Whoa, whoa, wait," Sam said, holding up her hands. "Are you saying that these two ghosts are… _twins?"_

Sadina looked at her and nodded.

"So, twin ghosts are not common," Danny said, "And… they're very dangerous?"

Sadina looked at him in turn. "They are," she replied. "When attacking, they can combine their powers together to make them double the amount of force. Which can be incredibly critical if a ghost came in near contact… if the power they used was something as powerful as a _Ghostly Wail…"_

Danny suddenly froze. He could feel both Sam and Tucker stare at him in horror.

Sadina slowly fell silent as well and looked up at Danny. She had sensed his anxiety. "Do not tell me that the youngest used his… Ghostly Wail on you?" she said worriedly.

Danny cleared his throat nervously after coming out of his freeze and nervously rubbed his arm. "Uh, actually, he used it three times," he replied. "Once while himself, and then twice when merged with the red one."

Sadina's face filled with dread. She pointed at him. "As soon as I am through explaining to you," she said sternly, "You will go out back and meditate _immediately._ A Ghost's Wail is incredibly deadly when merged with the power of another ghost. And considering how you are half-ghost, half-human, this could become fatal, if you were to perform a powerful attack afterwards, such as your Ultimate Control."

Danny opened his eyes in shock, remembering how he nearly used his Ultimate Control before the ghosts took off into the park. _It's a good thing I didn't do anything,_ he thought. _Not only would I have hurt Andy, but I could have killed myself._

"You certainly _could _have," Sadina snapped softly, shaking her finger in his direction.

Danny covered his mouth and blushed. "I forgot that you could read my thoughts," he muttered.

Tucker stared at him in shock. "She can read minds too?" he said.

Danny looked at him. "No; only mine."

"But… why only yours?"

Sadina chuckled softly, catching their attention. "Mainly for the reason that Daniel's emotions tend to help give away what he is thinking," she said. "That and the fact that his eyes can be easily read by a skilled Senser." She let go of the stick and poured in a few herbs before continuing to stir. "Promise me you will go mediate the way I showed you how, once I have finished, Danny," she said.

Danny looked at Tucker and Sam before nodding his head. "Yes, Ma'am," he replied.

Sadina seemed satisfied. "Then, it is time I show you more of your opponents," she said, touching the surface of the water in the pot with her index finger.

The water immediately began to change colors before their very eyes. While Danny seemed familiar with this, Sam and Tucker leaned forward in shock. "It's like a giant crystal ball, man!" the mayor exclaimed as he and Sam squatted and stared through the pot. "Made by a ghost!"

Sadina continued to stir the water before beginning to pass her hands over the pot. Images of the twin ghosts appeared in the cauldron. "Their names are Ruber and Violaceus, the near latin words for the colors they are. Ruber, as you already may know, is the eldest of the two, the unofficial leader. His personal ghost power is _telekinesis._ This can be a very deadly power, if used for evil purposes."

"What's the difference between a personal power and a special power-slash-attack?" Tucker wondered, looking up at the old lady.

Sam nudged his side. "Stop asking questions!" she scolded.

Sadina grinned and laughed softly. "It is alright, my dear," she said. "I enjoy answering questions." She looked at Tucker. "A _common _power is the basic ghost abilities that most or all spirits have, such as invisibility, intangibility and ghost rays. A _personal_ power is something only that ghost possesses, that he or she was born with. Many ghosts possess more than one. Danny's is his Ghost Ice, and on certain occasions, his Ghostly Wail. Though many other ghosts share these powers, they are considered personal powers, because not all spirits can acquire them. A _special _power is something that _can _be acquired by many ghosts, however is very difficult to master. There are several of these, such as imitation, mind control from a distance, or the greatest of special powers: _Ultimate Control._ And luckily for us, the only ghost who possesses that is Danny Phantom, who fights for the good of both worlds."

"Is that enough info for your brain, Tuck?" Danny asked slyly while crossing his arms over the rim of the pot and looking down at his friend.

Tucker did not look up at him. "For now, I guess," he replied.

Sadina touched the water's surface as an animated image of the purple ghost, or Violaceus, appeared. "Vio's personal power is his Ghost Wail, as you have seen." She explained. "On any normal occasion, it is just as powerful, or less, than the wail of an even more powerful spirit, such as Danny." She frowned softly. "Unfortunately, their special power is the power of _imitation._ This is what makes them so deadly.

"Ruber and Vio can imitate other ghosts and literally _steal _their powers. By focusing together, they will learn a certain power just like that, and it will become part of them. Luckily for us, many of the ghosts they dared to imitate were much stronger and wiser than they are, so they learned nothing; teenager ghosts can be the trickiest of all in our realm."

"So, that would explain why Vio had wondered if he should imitate my Ghostly Ice," Danny noted, staring into the water. He looked up at Sadina. "Are there a lot of Imitator Ghosts in the Ghost Zone?"

Lady Sadina shook her head. "Thankfully, no," she replied. "They are incredibly scarce, and all of those who _have _been known to be Imitators are either destroyed, overcome by all of the powers they had imitated, or locked up by the Observants. Hardly any Imitators are good ghosts, which is why you hardly see any."

Danny nodded thoughtfully. "So they're Imitators," he said. "And because they're twins, they can merge together to give their powers an extra boost…" He paused and looked at Sadina again. "What about their energy growth? Andy told me that they would go to sleep at night because they were tired, just like regular humans. Why is that?"

"A very good observation, Danny," Sadina acknowledged. She passed her hand through the water as more images of the ghost twins appeared. "Ruber and Vio are the type of ghost known as Binders. Though their power sets them further aside as Imitators, Binder is their root."

Tucker peered over the top of the cauldron. "What is a Binder Ghost?" he wondered, looking at Danny.

"A Binder is a ghost who can link their energy to another source," Danny explained. "Kind of like a blood sucker. Only, they share the same energy for the first while. The more energy they get from their host, the stronger they become."

Tucker raised his eyebrows. "So, that would explain why the twins can control Andy during the day, but sleep at night," he concluded. "Just like humans, they need to rest up, which is why Andy can communicate with us on his own terms once the twins are sleeping."

Sadina nodded solemnly. "Unfortunately, it will only get worse," she said. "When the Binder eventually becomes strong enough to control the body, the time the host will have to act freely will diminish. The longer the Binder remains, the weaker the host becomes." She looked at Danny. "You said that it had nearly been two weeks since you noticed changes," she said. "If that is so, then I fear your son may be running out of time."

"Can you save him?" Sam asked worriedly, rising to her feet and placing her hands together.

Sadina looked at her and shook her head. "I cannot," she replied. She pointed at Danny. "But _he _can."

"But I already _tried _forcing them out," Danny said. "They're just too strong. I can't beat them if they keep merging together."

"No, you cannot."

"But—!"

Sadina laughed softly. "The one problem I could never fix about you, Danny, is that you jump to conclusions _far _too quickly," she said. She looked at Sam next. "I have a few remedies that may be of good use to you," she explained. "They will help you defeat the twins; however, finding a way to get them out of Andrew's body is not something that I can be of service in. That will be up to you. Danny can defeat them, that I am sure of; but the rest will only change by the way _you _act."

Danny, Sam and Tucker stared at her in silence before looking at each other.

Sadina looked at them and smiled. "Do not fret; I can sense courage and hope in all of you," she reassured them. "And with perseverance, I am certain that the future will be a favorable one." She hovered around the pot and placed her hands on Danny's back, pushing the ghost towards the exit. "Now, while I put some medicine together, go into the yard and meditate before your body falls apart."

* * *

_**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** There's the explanation most of you have been badgering me to give, haha! Ruber and Vio are twin Imitator Ghosts, which are incredibly rare and extremely dangerous. I thought it would be fun if I made different types of ghosts. Makes the Ghost Zone a little more colorful than just green and purple, hee hee!_

_As for Danny's meditating, that will all be explained in the next chapter. You will learn a little bit more about the friendship he and Lady Sadina share, and how Danny came to tame his power of Ultimate Control... well, to a certain point, that is._

_Now I'm goin back to university homework... _  
_


	12. Chapter 12

**_AUTHOR'S NOTE:_**_ Wow, thanks for all the reviews, guys! I like seeing curious questions and comments. I'm still startled to know that my stories are that addictive. XD_

_Just one thing I'd like to remind people: this story IS actually totally completed, as are the other fanfictions for Danny Phantom. I just like posting them once I've finished writing the story since I actually have something to post and am forced to finishing posting. So if you guys have any "Suggestions" for how I should add something in in a future chapter, I'll unfortunately need to say that I can't do that. ^^; I appreciate everyone's opinions, but since the stories are all written already, I can't go back and change something that will transform the entire plot, right?_

_But still, feel free to share your opinions! I like to see what others think (unless it's about giving Sam and Danny another kid. I draw the line there, haha!)_

_Anywho, let's continue with yet another informative chapter about Danny's seclusion in the Ghost Zone!  
_

* * *

More than an hour passed since Danny had gone into the garden-like backyard of Lady Sadina's small Chinese themed home. Sadina had restricted both Sam and Tucker from following the ghost out, and added that she was not to be disturbed while she made the remedy she spoke of earlier. That left the two humans to explore the house, play guessing games and even doze off.

Nearing two hours, Tucker got tired of waiting and went to the window that opened up to the backyard. Pulling out a chair while Sam poured herself some water to drink—Sadina had shown her where the _human _snacks were—the mayor crossed his arms over the window sill, set his chin down over them and watched his best friend.

Danny was floating several inches above the grassy ground, legs crossed and arms placed over them. His eyes were closed as though he had fallen into a peaceful sleep. His white hair wavered gently in a breeze Tucker guessed that only the ghosts could feel in that dimension. Every now and then, his body rippled in white light, shaped like the halo that intersected his body when he was transforming. It was as though water rippled over him. A few times, Tucker noticed Danny's lips move ever so slightly, as though he was whispering a word or two. Every time he did, his ghostly glow seemed to brighten and then dim again.

And another fact that caught Tucker's attention was that the flowers in the garden seemed to sway along with the rippling light over Danny's body; almost as though it added some healing to the damage he had obtained during the early battle.

The black man watched studiously, slightly interested in this _meditation_.

Sam finished her drink while walking towards her friend and stopped right behind him, looking on at what her husband was doing as well. For a moment, she contemplated over the exercise Danny was doing. "Is he done yet?" she wondered.

Tucker sighed without moving his head. "Nope," he replied.

"Sometimes I wonder how I fell in love with a guy as weird as him. I find that I stand beside myself a lot when I see him do things like that."

"You're not the only one."

Sam stared at Tucker for a moment before looking up at an old clock on the nearby wall. "We should be getting back now," she said worriedly. "I'm worrying about Andy more and more."

"We can't do anything if Danny isn't healed," Tucker replied, again without looking up. "And whatever remedy that Lady Sadina is conjuring up must be worth the wait if she told us to stay here."

They continued to watch Danny in silence. The ghost slowly turned in a circle before uncrossing his legs and landing silently on the ground. There, eyes still closed, he positioned his feet apart from each other and gracefully began changing positions, as though performing a type of yoga exercise. Every now and then, he made a swift turn and swung a leg through the air, causing his entire white boot to glow. He did the same with his arms. His eyes remained closed the entire time still giving the illusion that he was sleeping, and he continued to whisper inaudible words.

"So he goes from sitting in midair for nearly two hours, to doing weird yoga stunts," Sam muttered. "Ghosts have a weird way of healing themselves."

Tucker seemed interested in other things. "I wonder what he's whispering," he said softly.

The sound of beads rattling caused them to turn their heads. The short, old lady came through the beaded doorway and floated towards them. "Ancient words of healing," she replied, having heard Tucker's query. "Great Healers use them to calm the nerves and ectoplasm flow. Sort of like…" She grinned. "… Near hibernation, you may say. The ectoplasm in a ghost's body slows down, like the heart of a human would, and puts the entire body to sleep, save the mind. Right now, what you are seeing is called _Thought Healing._"

"Thought Healing?" Tucker echoed.

"What's that?" Sam added.

Sadina floated up to the window next to Tucker and peered out. "It is a type of meditation often used among gifted ghosts," she explained. "I taught it to Danny when he first came to me. What happens is that the words he whispers keeps his body in a hibernating state while his mind subconsciously controls the movements of his limbs and abdomen muscles. This allows his body to rest while healing. It helps to regenerate lost Ghost Energy as well. Though it takes nearly three hours to do properly, sometimes even longer, depending on the damage brought to the ghost."

Tucker and Sam shared a curious look and stared out the window at the ghost again. "So, Danny's mind is putting his body to sleep, but he's controlling movement through… uh, dreams or something?" Tucker clarified.

"In a way, yes. Though it may not look like it from the outside, a ghost can be seriously wounded from the inside. This meditation, though quite long, is incredibly helpful in healing the body. Unfortunately, Danny has a stubborn soul; he does not like to admit when he's critically injured. Because he has strong emotions, he can also use them to cover up the truth, which is not always easy for a Senser if they are trying to locate the injury."

Sam scoffed softly. "Yeah; he's stubborn, alright," she said. "Hates admitting defeat."

Sadina shook her head. "No, not quite that," she disagreed. "It's more like… like protection."

At these words, both Tucker and Sam looked at her.

"He does not want anyone to know that he is harmed… in fear that they will take advantage of his weakness and bring harm to those he holds dear to him."

Tucker and Sam looked at each other, seeming to contemplate those words, and then stared at Danny again. The ghost swung his leg twice before performing a back flip, a front flip, and finally a horizontal twist, something that could only be performed by weightless beings.

Tucker placed a fist against his cheek. "I hope you don't mind me asking, Lady Sadina," he said softly, catching the old woman's attention, "But… how exactly did you meet Danny, anyway?"

Sadina grinned weakly and stared out the window again at the white-haired ghost. "Some would say by accident," she replied. "But I call it fate.

"Danny had stumbled upon Ectonia several months after being banished here from the Real World. An evil ghost hunter, I believe who went by the name of Skulker, had injured him before Danny was able to escape by stumbling over the city of Ectonia. He was confused, dazed, asking people if they had seen someone similar to him yet with black hair and blue eyes. He was desperate. Though most citizens of the city knew who he was, his anxious personality made a few spirits restless and worried. They noticed that he was injured. They called the authorities merely to have them help Danny, but he thought they meant him harm so he tried to escape. He took a turn down an alleyway and fell at my doorstep, unable to get up.

"I had sensed a ghost of great importance coming my way. So I stepped out of my house the moment he fell and helped him back up. I told the authorities to leave him to me, which they did.

"After I had cared for his wound, Danny explained his situation while I warmed him some tea. He told me about the Ghost Keeper attack, which most of us were already familiar with, and he told me how his physical body had been trapped in the Ghost Zone, lost in its endless mazes. He came to Ectonia by accident, while evading a ghost hunter. Ghosts do not need food or water as often as humans do, but we do need to regenerate energy by any means possible; Danny had not done so for nearly eight months, which explained why he was dazed and unable to battle the ghost hunter.

"So I had him stay with me. I showed him the meditation of Thought Healing, which I advised him to do at least once a day. I gave him maps to study of our world, so that when he was strong enough to return to searching for his body, he would be prepared if he got lost. I gave him books to read about the different types of ghosts and those most known for either their good deed or their evil deeds.

"And because I knew he would need to remain in Ectonia for some time, I had him explore the city and get to know its inhabitants. At first, Danny was just as afraid of getting to know ghosts personally as _they_ were of getting to know him. His reputation as a ghost hunter was well known, almost as known as his reputation as a hero was. Luckily, children are much more open than adults are, and so through the young ones of this fair city, Danny was able to adapt and call Ectonia his... _temporary_ home.

"Finally, I taught him how to control his power of Ultimate Control. That was another reason why he was so weak the first time we met. He had not learned how to balance the amount of energy he used when performing that power, which was why he drained himself of strength. So I taught him how to use a little bit at a time. I taught him to recognize when too much was too much; which now ends with him reverting back to his human form when weak. He can use the attacks more often if he uses one bit of it at a time, allowing his body to regenerate the lost energy. I've also shown him a book written by Clockwork, Daniel's appointed Guardian. The book, Clockwork claimed, was created for Danny; it was to guide him as he studied his new ghost power, indicating the different attacks that could be performed in Ultimate Control. That power can be at once a healing miracle and a fatal blow.

"After three or four years, he left, in search for his body. I kept an eye on him when I could, and I had Clockwork do the same…" Sadina giggled softly. "Clockwork and I are old friends. When he was chosen to be Danny's spiritual guardian watcher, I knew he would be handy in keeping an eye on him. When you helped Danny reunite him with his physical body, Clockwork alerted me, and I knew that my training for him had been of good use."

Tucker listened attentively to the story before staring out the window again. "So, you helped Danny get around while he was in the Ghost Zone," he concluded.

Sadina nodded her head. "That is one way of putting it," she said.

"I guess… if it hadn't been for you, he never would have been able to come home."

At these words, Sadina smiled and laughed softly. "Nay," she replied. "I merely steered him in the right direction. It was _you _and _your _families who helped Daniel return home, by the aid of the Spirit Gems. No ghost on this side could help him; only the humans could." She looked out the window again. "Danny is a good pupil. Hardly ever thinks of himself first. But like everyone, he has a few faults to work out."

Tucker and Sam looked at her until the black-haired environmentalist looked up at the clock again. "Tucker, I _really _want to get back now," she said worriedly. "Not only are our glow pills going to stop working, but I need to get back to Andy."

"He'll probably be influenced by the ghost twins, Sam," Tucker said softly. "Relax."

"I can't relax; and I don't care if he won't be conscious. He's my five-year-old kid, and I don't like being this far away from him at a time like this."

Sadina reached out and placed a hand on Sam's, catching her attention. "You are a good mother, child," she said. "Do not fret; my remedy is nearly completed, and once it is, you may depart. But allow Danny to finish meditating first. He is the only one who can assure your son's safe return, so it is best to wait until he has completed his healing."

With that, the old ghost turned and floated back into the dimly lit room behind the beads.

Tucker watched her leave before pulling out his radio. He handed it to his best friend. "Here, Sam," he said. "If it makes you calm down, you can give Mr. and Mrs. Fenton a ring."

Sam stared at the radio and then frowned at the mayor. "And you never told me you had the radio because?" she wondered.

Tucker grinned weakly in reply before looking away.

"Well? What's the excuse? You wanted to see me worry? You wanted to watch me freak out?"

"No."

"Well, then, what's the reason, Tucker? You always have some stupid excuse."

Tucker waited a moment before replying: "… I forgot it was in my pocket," he replied quietly.

Sam stared at him in surprise before looking at the radio again.

"Better call them now; I think Danny forgot to charge the battery again."


	13. Chapter 13

Jack had traded places with his wife an hour ago to watch over their grandson. Andy was still conscious, considering the twin ghosts had used an exceedingly large amount of energy to fight off Danny; but his health was weaning, his skin was pale, and he had a fever.

Maddie had tried giving something for Andy to eat, but the boy refused anything but a glass of water. She took out a pillow and blanket, and he was placed on the couch to rest.

Jack was sitting next to him, reading the newspaper. Every few seconds, he looked up to see how Andy was doing, and the more he did so, the more concerned he became. He groaned and tossed the paper over his shoulder. "Maddie, is he back yet?" he called out boringly.

There was a pause. "No, not yet, Dear!" his wife replied from the basement.

Jack groaned again and slumped in the sofa chair.

"Did Andy try to eat anything yet, Jack?"

The large, orange jumpsuited ghost hunter looked over his shoulder. "No," he replied.

"Try getting him to, then!"

"But he doesn't want to!"

"Jack!"

Jack moaned and stood up. "Alright, Alright," he muttered stubbornly, walking around the couch and entering the kitchen. He made his way to the pantry and searched for anything like a cookie or some crackers. He pulled out a box of Maddie's gingersnaps, Andy's favourite homemade desert, and then headed back to the living room, not forgetting to open the fridge, stick his finger in the newly made chocolate fudge, and take a taste.

"Good as always," he muttered. "Though it could use a little more chocolate." He walked up to the couch and crouched down next to his grandson. "Hey, Andy-boy!" he said cheerfully, holding up the gingersnaps. "Lookie what I got for you!"

Andy opened his eyes sleepily and stared at the container of gingersnaps. But unlike he usually did, which was grin and dig into the pile, he pushed the container aside and threw the blanket over his head.

Jack stared at him in shock. "But they're your grandma's gingersnaps!" he pointed out. "I thought you like Grandma Maddie's gingersnaps!"

"Not hungry," Andy croaked sickly from beneath the cover.

His grandfather stared at him in silence before looking towards the basement. "Told you; he's not hungry!" he called out.

"Jack, he's a five-year-old in need of nourishment!" Maddie replied.

"But he just said—!"

"Jack!"

"But he doesn't even want your gingersnaps!"

"Just get him to eat _one, _Jack! I'm a little busy with communications down here!"

Jack groaned again and pulled out a cookie. "Come on, Partner," he said. "Eat just one. Grandma said so."

"Not hungry," Andy repeated.

"But your Mom will be mad that you didn't try to eat _something, _Andy. You don't want to shrivel up like a weed, do you?"

There was a sniff beneath the covers, and then Andy began to cry quietly. Jack was immediately taken aback and overcome by guilt. "Hey, Little guy, I was just kiddin' about the shrivelling up part, you know," he reassured him while peeking under the blanket. "You're not gonna shrivel up like a weed. Your dad's gonna make sure of it. But you've just got to eat something. You don't want to get sicker, do you?"

Andy wiped his eyes and nose before looking up at his grandfather. "It's not that," he squeaked. "I'm scared that if I eat somethin', the monster will get stronger. I don't want it to get stronger."

Jack raised his eyebrows.

"I'm scared, Grampa."

The ghost hunter blinked several times before finally grinning. "Hey, that's all good," he said. "If it makes you feel better, I'm scared too. I don't wanna lose my favourite ghost hunting partner, right?" He held up a gingersnap again. "But if you don't eat, the monster not only will die, but so will you. And _you _don't want to die, right?"

Andy sniffed and shook his head.

"Then have a gingersnap, Kiddo. You wanna be strong too."

Andy looked at the cookie and finally reached out and grabbed it. While looking up at his grandfather, he placed the cookie to his mouth and took a bite out of it.

Jack watched him chew slowly and gave him the thumbs up. "There we go!" he said. "That wasn't so hard, was it?"

"No."

"I'll bet it tasted good too."

The boy finally cracked a grin and nodded.

Jack winked in reply, just as the sound of rushing footsteps coming from the basement caught his attention. He raised his head and looked over the couch.

Maddie ran into the living room while holding up a one-way radio. "Jack! Jack, it's Sam!" she said. "She wants to talk to Andy!"

"Ya hear that, Sprout?" Jack said with a smile, looking at his grandson. "Your mom wants to say hi!"

Andy inched his head out from the blanket and reached out for the radio. Once Maddie had given it to him and shown him how and when to push the button, he put his cookie down, placed both hands around the device and held down on the button. "Mommy?" he squeaked.

"_Andy! Oh, Andy, are you alright?"_ Sam's voice exclaimed in relief. _"I was so worried about you!"_

"It's okay, I'm wif Gramma an' Grampa."

"_How are you feeling?"_

Andy sunk a little lower on the couch and pressed the button again. "I feel sick," he said. "And I'm scared."

"_Where are the gho—er, I mean, how's the monster in your head?"_

"He's sleeping."

Sam sighed at the other end. _"I was worried you got hurt when they used you to fight Danny," _she said quietly. _"So you feel sick?"_

Andy nodded. "Uh-huh," he replied. "And I'm scared."

"_It's okay, Sweetie; I'm scared too…"_

"_No you're not,"_ Tucker's voice muttered in the background. "_You're freaked out."_

"_Tucker, put a sock in it!"_

Jack and Maddie choked on a laugh while Andy forced himself to grin weakly. "Hi, Uncle Tucker," he said.

"_He says hi, Birdbrain,"_ Sam said flatly.

"_I can hear him, Sam,"_ Tucker replied just as tediously. _"How's it goin', Short stuff? You still alive?"_

"I think so," Andy said quietly. "But I feel sick, and I think my legs feel like jell-o."

"_Jell-o's not good. At least not unless it's a desert."_

Andy forced up a giggle.

"_Just hang in there, Junior. Your dad took us to meet an old friend of his from the Ghost Zone."_

"_She's making a special medicine for you,"_ Sam added. _"It'll help get the monster out of your head. You don't have to worry about a thing anymore, okay?"_

Andy looked at his grandparents for a moment, saw them grin warmly in reply, and then looked down at the radio again. He held down on the button. "Mommy?" he said meekly. "Can I talk to Daddy?"

There was a pause at the other end before his mother replied. _"Uh, your father's a little… um, busy at the moment, Andy,"_ Sam replied. _"He's meditating."_

"Ghosts meditate?" Jack muttered in curiosity while looking at his wife.

Maddie hushed him as Andy spoke up. "What's medicating?" he wondered.

"_Medi-TA-ting, Sweetie. It's when you have a quiet time to do some thinking. Your dad got hurt inside when he fought the monster in your head, so his friend told him to do an exercise called Thought Healing. It's like sleeping for ghosts, only it helps them heal faster if they're hurt."_

Andy waited a minute before continuing. "I wanna talk to Daddy," he repeated, almost as though the conversation he just had with his mother had been ignored.

"_Andy, your daddy can't come to the radio right now," _Sam repeated.

Andy became desperate. "I wanna talk to Daddy," he said as tears filled his eyes.

"_I know you do—!"_

"_Uh, Sam?" _Tucker said in the background.

"—_But we're not allowed to go bug him."_

"_Sam…"_

"I wanna talk to Daddy," Andy said through the lump that had formed in his throat. "Right now."

"_Andy, I'll tell your dad that he can call you back when he's done, alright?" _Sam reassured him.

"_Saaaaammm,"_ Tucker hummed.

"No," Andy squeaked. "I wanna talk to him _now._"

Sam sighed. _"Andy—!"_

"_Sam." _There was a pause at the other end when a third voice, much softer than either Sam's or Tucker's, spoke. _"Give me the radio."_

Andy immediately recognized the voice. He sniffed and wiped his eyes.

There was another pause. _"I'm right here, Andy,"_ Danny's voice announced gently over the speaker.

Andy's voice broke. "Daddy, I want you to come home now," he cried. "I'm scared and my tummy hurts, and my head hurts, and I don't wanna go to sleep yet."

"_It's okay, Andy…"_

"I want you to come home now, Daddy. I want you and Mommy and Uncle Tucker to come home."

"_I know you do," _Danny replied. _"And we are. We just need to wait for your medicine to be ready and then we'll come straight home."_

Andy sniffed. "Are you done medicating?" he squeaked.

"_Yeah, I'm done meditating, Squirt."_

"Do you feel better?"

"_I feel a lot better."_

"Did the monster hurt you too much?"

Danny sounded like he was laughing softly at the other end. _"So you're scared, you feel sick, but you're worried that I'm hurt?" _he said.

Andy cuddled the radio. "I need to make sure my hero is okay," he whispered. "Because the monster in my head made me hurt you."

"_You didn't hurt me, Andy. You had nothing to do with it."_

"Are you sure?"

"_Andy, I don't want you to worry about it, okay? The next time the monster tries to hurt me, I'll be ready. And I'll get rid of him."_

Andy looked up at his grandmother. Maddie grinned and nodded in reply. When Andy looked at his grandfather, Jack winked and gave the thumbs up.

The five-year-old looked at the radio again. "Are you coming home now?" he squeaked.

"… _Yes, Andy. We're coming home now."_

"You promise?"

"_I promise."_

These words seemed to satisfy the child. Andy pressed the button again. "Is it okay if I have something to eat?" he asked. "Like a gingersnap?"

There were a few muffled laughs over the radio. _"Who says you weren't allowed to eat?"_ Danny chuckled.

"No one. Mommy just doesn't like it when I eat desert before supper."

Maddie and Jack chuckled while Tucker burst into laughter over the radio. Sam could be heard saying something inaudible.

Danny laughed as well. _"I'm sure she'll let you break the schedule this once, Squirt,"_ he said.

Andy grinned. "Okay," he said. "Bye-bye, Daddy."

"_I'll see you when we get home, Andy."_

Andy took his finger off of the button and handed the radio back to his grandmother. Then, he picked up the gingersnap he had put down and looked at Jack. "Could I have a glass of milk too, please?" he asked.

Jack raised an eyebrow. "If all it took was one phone call to get him to eat," he said to his wife, "Then we should have called Danny _hours _ago."


	14. Chapter 14

Sadina held up her hands once she had followed the three friends to the front door. "Show me, Child," she said, addressing her words to Danny. As the ghost and his companions turned to face her, she added, "Show me how strong it is now."

Danny blinked and then held up both hands before him. He created a large sphere of white ectoplasmic light, which swirled around like glowing water and air.

Sadina reached into the orb of light with both hands and held them there; but within mere seconds, she pulled them back out quickly, gasping softly. She giggled and looked up at the green-eyed ghost. "Good," she said. "Very good. Nice and hot. I see you have been practicing since you returned to your world."

Danny smiled back. "I didn't forget what you taught me," he replied as the orb faded away. "And I don't plan to."

Lady Sadina nodded in reply before making a tiny, red vase with a cork on its end appear out of thin air. She grabbed it and handed it to Danny, placing it in his hands and closing them on top of the container. "Give your son this to drink," she instructed him. "Make sure he drinks it all. It will take several hours to take effect, but it will work once Ruber and Vio are conscious again." Her eyes became stern. "But you _must _give it to Andy by _his _own free will. If he consumes it while the twins are awake, then they will know what it is and refuse it. So it would be best if you give it to your son tonight, while they are asleep."

Danny, Sam and Tucker looked at the tiny vase in his hand and then stared at the old woman. "What will it do?" Danny asked.

"It will keep the twins from merging together," Sadina replied. "That way, they will not be able to perform any tricks strong enough to harm you like that again, and it will be easier for you to stop them."

Danny tucked the vase away while Sam crossed her arms. "Well, that's all good," the woman began, "But if they're separated and can't merge together, then how will we be able to get them out of Andy in one piece? I want my son back, not him split in two."

Sadina giggled softly. "Do not fret, Sam," she said. "You can still force them out when separated and return your child to normal." She looked at Danny. "That, however, will be up to your husband to do. He is the only one who can defeat them."

"But you still haven't told me how," Danny noted. "How will I be able to defeat them if they'll imitate my powers and moves?"

"By using the one power that has never failed you: your _Ultimate Control."_

Danny recoiled in shock, just as Sam and Tucker did. Concerned filled the ghost's eyes. "Sadina, I can't use my UCG," he said worriedly. "They're _in _Andy in order to watch me perform it. They'll imitate me and I won't be able to destroy them that way. Are you sure that's right?"

Lady Sadina laughed and placed her hands on Danny's cheeks. "My boy, I have taught you many things and shown you the greatness of my powers, and you ask me _if I'm sure?"_ she said. "You are too naïve, Danny. You must learn to believe in the extent of the ghosts, just as you have come to rely on the humans. You are one from both worlds." She let him go. "The one thing Ruber and Vio do not know, Daniel, is that Ultimate Control is the _only _power that can _never _be imitated. It must be reached on their own. No matter how hard they try, they will _never _be able to imitate you when you use that gift."

Danny seemed at once relieved and startled. "Really?" he said.

"Trust me, Danny. Once you use that gift, there is no stopping you."

Tucker sighed of relief. "Well, that's good news," he said.

Danny looked at him before Sadina cleared her throat. The woman frowned softly. "However," she began, "Do be wise in choosing the amount of power you use, Danny. If you use too much at once, you will revert back to human form, and that will certainly be your downfall. I fear time grows short for your son, and if you fail at this mission, you will _never _see him again."

Danny swallowed with difficulty when he felt Sam place her hand in his.

"Neither the Ghost Zone nor the Real World place their hopes and lives in your hands this time, Danny; it's a five-year-old child who looks up to his father as a hero. _Don't let him down."_

The white-haired ghost took a deep breath and shook his head. "I won't," he whispered.

Sadina seemed satisfied. She smiled in reply. "Good," she replied. She patted his hand. "You will succeed, I am sure of it."

Danny grinned weakly and then bowed politely, followed by Tucker and Sam. "Thank you for your help, Lady Sadina," he said. "I hope this won't be the last time we meet."

"I doubt it will be, Danny," Sadina replied as they straightened out again. "And I do believe that I may soon meet this child of yours." She looked from Sam to Danny to Tucker. "Keep him safe, all three of you," she instructed. "He is the living proof that the Ghost Zone and the Real World can live together in harmony."

Danny bowed once more before leading his friends back out of the house and into the streets. Sadina remained on her front porch until they had disappeared around the corner.

Tucker looked over his shoulder before looking at his best friend again. "I've seen powerful ghosts," he said, "But she takes the cake, dude." He looked at his feet. "I don't think I've ever actually _felt _that much in a _ghost _before."

"That makes no sense," Sam muttered stubbornly.

Danny seemed to understand though. He looked at the mayor. "She touched your thoughts, didn't she?" he said quietly.

Tucker did not look up. "If by touch you mean stare into my soul, then yes," he replied. "All of the secrets I thought were the darkest and most well-kept… she figured them all out in _seconds._"

"I don't… remember her doing something like that to _me,"_ Sam said thoughtfully. "When did she do that to you?"

"Just before you called Andy, when she was telling us how she met Danny. Every time she looked at me, I could feel her eyes just burrowing into me. It felt like a cold rush of wind was blowing through my body."

Danny waited silently when his friend stopped speaking, expecting him to say more. When he did not, the ghost cleared his throat. "And?" he said. "Did she say anything about it?"

Tucker looked at him. "What do you mean?" he wondered.

"She's touched my thoughts plenty of times. She always has something to say about them. What did she say about yours?"

Tucker blinked before looking down at his feet. "She told me to let go of material possessions," he replied. "… But never stop believing… in the unbelievable. That it'll save my life one day."

Danny and Sam stared at him in silence before he spoke again:

"And let's face it, Danny; since you got ghost powers, you're pretty unbelievable."


	15. Chapter 15

**_AUTHOR'S NOTE:_** _Thanks again to all of you readers for the wonderful comments. I'm really pleased to see that my stories are this interesting. Means that I'm on the right track to becoming an author!_

_I'm sorry if I don't answer all comments, but I DO read them all. Really, I do. University's just got me up to my shoulders in boiling water right now. But on the plus side, working at the library has given me the oppertunity to go through the Animation Magazine series, and guess what: already found TWO articles about Butch Hartman, and one is specifically about Danny Phantom! Squeal!_

_Too bad it was dated from 2004. Anyway, enjoy this next installment!_

_

* * *

_

The ghost portal flashed brightly and into the lab drove the Fenton Speeder. Maddie, sitting at the computer once more, pressed a button and closed the ghost portal, sealing it shut, before getting up and rushing to the vehicle.

The doors opened and out climbed Tucker and Sam. Danny floated through the windshield, landed gently on the ground and then transformed back to normal.

"Who was your friend?" Maddie asked while checking the vehicle over.

Danny dusted himself off and then tucked the red vase into his pocket. "Lady Sadina," he replied. "She's a ghost that took care of me while I was stuck in the Zone."

"I heard Sam mention something about meditating?"

Tucker stretched out his arms. "Yeah; a meditation that lasted almost _three hours,"_ he yawned.

Maddie stared in confusion at her son. "What kind of meditation is that?" she asked.

Danny shrugged. "It's an ancient form of self healing for ghosts," he replied. "Sadina taught it to me when I first came to her. It helps me heal more proficiently and conserve more energy, and once she found out that the twins had used a Super Ghostly Wail on me twice, she had me go outside and meditate."

"Twins?" Maddie echoed. "What twins?"

"The ghosts in Andy. They're twin Imitators called Ruber and Violaceous. Or something like that."

Maddie frowned worriedly. "Twin ghosts doesn't sound very good," she said.

"It's not. Especially if they're Imitators."

"What do imitators do?"

Sam walked over to Danny. "They can imitate any ghost power just like that," she explained. "All of Danny's abilities will be useless against them."

"Except for Ultimate Control," Tucker added, joining them. "That's the only one that can help save Andy."

Danny pulled out the small vase again and tossed it up while catching it. "This is the key to solving Andy's problem," he said. "I need him to drink this while the ghosts are out. Then, all I've gotta do is coax the twins to separate, and once they do, they won't be able to merge together again, which gives me an advantage. All I have to worry about is using too much energy and reverting back to human form in front of the whole city."

Maddie pointed at the vase. "What does that do?" she wondered.

Danny looked at her. "It acts like a barrier," he explained. "Once Andy drinks it, it'll keep the twins from remerging together while we're battling. That way, they won't be as strong."

"But how will Andy end up once you force the ghosts out?" his mother asked. "I mean, wouldn't there be _two _of him afterwards?"

"Sadina doesn't say so," Tucker replied. "If Danny manages to force the twins out with his UCG, Andy should be fine. If not, then we can always use that Ghost Catcher thing to put him back toge—!"

Danny quickly slapped a hand over Tucker's mouth, taking the mayor by surprise. He frowned. "I would _rather _you not describe that scene in front of the kid's _parents, _Tucker," he said behind his teeth as he and Sam glared at him.

Tucker shrugged apologetically before his best friend removed his hand from over his mouth.

"Where's Andy anyway, Mom?" Danny wondered, turning his attention to his mother again. "I'd like him to take this right now, while the twins are sleeping."

Maddie pointed over her shoulder. "He's on the couch, trying to get some sleep," she replied. "He's getting a bad fever. If you plan on getting those things out of him, you'd better do it fast."

"Already on it," Danny muttered, moving around her and dashing up the stairs.

* * *

Jack was sitting on the couch at his grandson's feet, dozing off. After having gotten the boy a good snack, he spoke cheerfully with the five-year-old until Andy began drifting to sleep. Then, he sat in silence, waiting for the return of his son, which eventually caused him to drift off as well.

Danny, followed by Sam, Tucker and Maddie, ran up the stairs as fast he could, swung himself around the corner thanks to the stair rail and ran into the living room. "Dad, wake Andy up," he called out.

Jack snorted loudly and woke up with a start before looking over his shoulder. After Danny's order had been registered into his brain, he leaned over and gently shook the five-year-old. "Andy-Boy, there's someone here to see you," he whispered.

Andy groaned and stirred before opening his eyes. It was at that moment that Danny had reached the couch and had knelt down in front of his son, coming face-to-face with him.

Despite his weakness and lack of smile, Andy's eyes brightened upon seeing his father.

Danny tried to grin. "Hey, Squirt," he said, rubbing Andy's head. "You're getting as pale as a ghost."

Andy forced up a grin at that and even managed to giggle weakly.

"You'll be more ghost than me if you don't stop."

"Will that make me a superhero like you?" Andy whispered.

Danny smiled a little more before Sam cleared her throat and caught his attention. He looked over his shoulder.

Sam tapped her foot impatiently and made sign with her hands that she wanted Andy to drink the antidote.

Her husband shrugged apologetically and then turned to look at the five-year-old again. "Andy, I've got something here that you need to drink for me," he said quietly, pulling out the little red vase. He pulled the cork off with difficulty. "A friend of mine made it for you. It won't make the monster come out, but it will keep it from getting stronger."

"Will you be able to beat it, then?" Andy asked.

"I should. It won't be able to hurt me as badly, either."

Andy rubbed his eyes sleepily before lifting himself up into a sitting position. He reached out when Danny handed him the vase.

"Is the monster still sleeping?" Danny asked.

His son yawned. "Uh-huh," he replied. "You made him tired."

"That's good."

Andy studied the little vase. "How much do I need to drink?" he asked.

"All of it."

The boy nodded weakly and then held the tiny container up to his mouth. Slowly, he poured it in.

Danny watched him do so and quickly came to the conclusion that the remedy Sadina had made was certainly not good tasting—Andy made grimaces and shut his eyes tightly as he forced himself to swallow the liquid inside.

"Are you sure that's a remedy?" Jack wondered, having noticed his grandson's reaction as well. "It looks more like it tastes like something disgusting."

Andy gulped down a few more times before pulling the vase away from his mouth and wiping his lips. Smacking his lips together before sticking out his tongue in disgust, he shuddered violently and stared at the vase. "It tastes like cough medicine mixed with Uncle Tucker's dirty socks," he commented.

Danny slapped a hand over his mouth to keep himself from bursting into laughter; however, that had not kept Sam from doing so. She immediately threw her head back and laughed. When Danny turned to look at his two best friends, Sam was playfully patting Tucker's back before laying her head on his shoulder and giggling.

Tucker's face had turned as red as it could over his dark skin. He wrinkled his nose and crossed his arms. "They don't smell _that _bad," he muttered stubbornly.

Danny uncovered his grin and looked at his son again. "Did you drink it all?" he asked.

Andy nodded.

"Are you sure?"

"Uh-huh. It's all empty." He held the vase upside down. "See?"

Danny took the vase back and tucked it away. "Now, all we can do is wait until morning," he said while standing up. He looked at his parents. "Sadina said that it would take a few hours to have effect, and it should last for at least a day. That should be enough for me to get those guys out."

Maddie nodded in reply.

"What are you going to do now?" Jack asked.

Danny stuck his hands in his pockets. "I guess all we _can _do is go back home for the night," he said. He looked at Sam. "We can come back here in the morning, unless the twins decide to come out and fight right away."

"Considering how unpredictable they are, I'm just gonna be at home sleeping in," Tucker announced, turning and walking to the entrance. "If anything starts up, let me know; either you guys will tell me or the news reporters will." He opened the front door and looked at Danny.

Danny stared back at him blankly before raising an eyebrow. "What?" he said. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I'm waiting for you to get going," Tucker replied.

"What does _my _leaving have to do with _yours?"_

Tucker glared tiredly at him. "The fact that it was _you _who _yanked _me out of my house and into your corvette, Genius," he said dryly. "_You're _my ride home."

Danny raised his eyebrows and blushed while Sam rolled her eyes. "Oops," the astronaut said while grinning foolishly. "Heh; I forgot about that."

"Meditating for three hours must do that to you," Tucker grumbled, opening the door a little more and walking out.

Sam reached down and picked her five-year-old son up in her arms while Danny groaned stubbornly. "He's as big a pain in the butt as he is a best friend," he muttered.

"Look on the bright side, Danny," Sam replied as she passed him while smiling slyly. "At least he's exactly like _you."_

Danny blankly watched her walk by with a dozing Andy in her arms while his parents chuckled. Then he wrinkled his nose and followed her out. "Expect an unexpected call tomorrow, Mom," he said behind his teeth. "Either from Miss perfect or the _Second _pain in the butt."

Jack and Maddie laughed softly.

"Bye Gramma and Grampa," Andy whispered tiredly.

"Thanks again," Sam added with a soft laugh of her own before Danny closed the door behind them.

Jack waited until the door had closed before looking at Maddie. "Are you _sure _those three are best friends?" he wondered.

Maddie only laughed some more.


	16. Chapter 16

Night hardly seemed to have passed by. After Sam had dropped Tucker off at his house and drove the sports car back home, she and Danny brought Andy upstairs to his bedroom for the night. Then, after making sure that the boy was sleeping, they closed the door, went into their bedroom, and immediately fell asleep in the large bed.

It had hardly seemed like night had passed since Danny went to bed when the sun peeked through the velvet drapes over the bedroom windows. He opened his eyes just a sliver, stared at the morning light, and then groaned tiredly before closing his eyes again and grasping his pillow.

A cold chill traveled up his spine. Danny shivered and let out a loud sigh, feeling his breath come out cold. This was enough to cause his eyes to open wide and stare about the room.

_Click!_

The sound of something sliding into place immediately caused Danny to sit up straight in the bed. Sam, having felt the movement, stirred and looked up at her husband. "Danny?" she croaked. "What are you—!"

"GET DOWN!" Danny shouted, throwing himself onto his wife and shoving them both off of the bed.

They fell against the carpet floor just as a purple laser flew over their heads and exploded against the window, shattering the glass to pieces. Sam screamed in fright and covered her head, although Danny was protectively shielding her.

Once the room had fallen silent again, save for their heavy breathing, Danny and Sam cautiously peeked over the side of the bed and stared at the doorway.

A ghost ray gun was floating in mid-air, pointed directly at them.

"Danny," Sam whispered fearfully, looking at her husband.

Danny did not reply. He only stared at the gun, knowing that there was someone behind it, holding it up; and he knew exactly who that someone was.

After a moment or two, Andy appeared out of thin air, still holding the gun. His eyes were red, and a devious smile was over his lips.

Danny and Sam looked on in silence.

The boy shook the gun a little and pointed it at Danny. "You're not making this an easy game, Phantom," the voice of the red ghost announced. "How are we supposed to imitate your UCG, if you won't _use _it?"

"Why do you want to start this now?" Danny growled behind his teeth.

Andy's eyes turned purple. "Hello; we're bad guys," the second ghost said as-a-matter-of-factly. "We're allowed to make your life miserable."

"And every moment that passes by is ticking me off," the red ghost added, his smile disappearing. "I want that power, and you're going to show it to me."

Danny frowned back. "Ruber," he hissed.

The red ghost raised his eyebrows in surprise before baring his teeth and pointing the gun at Danny. "How do you know my name?" he hissed in his turn, his eyes glowing with fury.

"Your brother's name is Violaceous."

The purple ghost gasped and stared in shock at Danny before Ruber's eye color glowed again.

Danny's eyes glowed green. "I know what type of ghost you guys are," he said. "Imitators."

"Oh, geez; what gave _that _away?" Ruber said sardonically.

"And you're Binders. You guys are lucky to have gotten out of the Ghost Zone with your lives." Danny narrowed his eyes. "The Observants would have you destroyed if you were returned there."

Andy's body began to glow red as Ruber clenched his teeth and yelled angrily. He leaped onto the bed and landed on Danny, pushing the man to the floor. Sam cried out in fright as the boy held the muzzle of the gun against Danny's chest.

"I don't know _how _you got all that information," Ruber said behind his teeth, "But if you think that I'm going to let you win and take me and Vio back to those blasted One-eyed creeps, you've got another think coming!"

Danny could feel the vibration of the gun. He stared at it in shock before glaring at the ghost.

Ruber narrowed his eyes. "Considering the show we put on yesterday, we decided to let you sleep in," he said. "It's now ten thirty in the morning, Danny. You've got three hours to put on a light show for us."

"Why a deadline now?" Danny growled. "I thought you _wanted _to stay in Andy's body. If you destroy it, you're perfect prey for the Fenton thermos."

Ruber smiled and laughed. "I'm not talking about your _kid, _Idiot," he replied. His eyes brightened. "I'm talking about your _friend."_

Danny and Sam stared at him in confusion and concern.

"Your geek friend. That mayor of this stupid city. The black guy."

"What have you done with Tucker?" Danny growled angrily.

Andy blinked and his eyes turned purple. "Nothing," Vio replied. "We just paid him a little visit earlier this morning."

The boy's eyes changed colours again. "We figured that just fighting in your kid's body wouldn't be convincing enough," Ruber explained. "So, while Mommy and Daddy were fast asleep, Andy _flew _over to his uncle's house and said hello."

Danny bared his teeth as his eyes glowed again. "If you've harmed him," he hissed menacingly.

Ruber growled back and moved the muzzle of the gun to Danny's forehead. "Shut up!" he snapped. "I want that power of yours, so I'll do what I want, with whoever I want, in order to get it! And if it means taking Uncle _Tucker _for ransom and hiding him somewhere in Amity Park with a bomb strapped to his chest, then so be it!"

"A _bomb?"_ Sam exclaimed. "You tied a _bomb _to him?"

Ruber looked at her. "Don't worry; the bomb is a ghost bomb; it'll only send a nasty ghost ray through his body and fry him up from the inside." He smiled deviously. "I wouldn't want to destroy the whole city, right?"

He looked at Danny again and frowned. "You've got until one thirty to show us what you're made of, hero," he said dryly. "If you don't find him in time, you're going to lose Amity Park's Mayor. And I'm sure you don't want to be the cause of your best friend's _death, _right?"

Danny did not move. He simply glared furiously at the boy, standing over him.

Ruber's eyes glowed again and he pressed the gun harder against Danny's forehead. "You'll _be _there," he hissed. "Won't you?"

Danny narrowed his eyes. "I wouldn't miss it," he replied.

This satisfied the ghost. Ruber smiled and pulled his gun away while straightening out. "That's better," he said. "Then we'll catch you later, Danny Phantom."

The boy disappeared into thin air, and Danny heard the quiet breeze rush by as the ghost flew invisibly out the broken window. Then, the room fell silent.

Sam was the first to get up. "Danny, we need to hurry up," she said worriedly as her husband rose himself to his feet next. "Tucker's in trouble, never mind Andy! What are we going to do?"

Danny dusted himself off. "We're going to go get my parents," he said calmly, although a frown was still over his brow. "And we're going to go meet them."

"But we don't know where Tucker is, Danny! How will we be able to find him in a city with only three _hours _to work on?"

Danny walked over to the dresser and opened a drawer. "If there's one thing I've learned about teenagers, it's that they tend to forget important pieces of information," he said, taking out a clean pair of socks.

"Information?"

"Tucker's a techno-geek, Sam. He's a computer _genius._ He's probably got some kind of tracking device on his glasses or in his beret, for crying out loud. And knowing his connection to us, it's probably linked to our computer system that he designed for my lab." Danny finished gathering his clothes and walked quickly over to the walk-in closet. He opened the door and disappeared inside, gathering the last of his things and getting changed out of sight.

"But what about the Twins?" Sam added worriedly. "How do we know if that potion Lady Sadina made actually worked?"

"It's too early to know yet, Sam," Danny replied from within the closet. "Ruber and Vio wouldn't have transformed this early yet, if they need to keep up their energy. And if it _had _worked and they had tried to merge together already, then they would have noticed it and had an even better reason to be ticked off at me. Sadina's remedy will work, Sam; I know it."

Sam hugged her waist. "So now we've got to save Tucker _and _Andy," she said. "How are we going to get the bomb off of Tucker, Danny? And what about facing off with the twins and helping Andy?"

Danny stepped out of the closet, dressed in his baggy jeans and trademark t-shirt. He grabbed a black hoodie, considering the autumn breeze outside, and threw it over his head. "Getting the bomb off of Tucker," he began, "I'm sure my mom will be able to handle." He pulled the rest of the sweater down over his body, revealing the white symbol of Danny Phantom over his chest.

Sam stared at him in silence.

Danny frowned as his eyes glowed green. "As for Andy," he said. "You just leave that up to me."

* * *

_**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** Oh, the suspense is killing me!... Or at least, torturing you guys. *giggles* Now Danny and Sam have got TWO people to save, and one of them is on a three-hour deadline._

_WILL THEY MAKE IT? You'll have to bite your fingernails off until I post the next chapter, haha!  
_


	17. Chapter 17

_**AUTHOR'S NOTE:**__ Sorry it's taking so long with posting chapters. Uni's been hectic and I've been using every spare moment to do homework. And I DO read all of your comments, I really do (Lenny, Toro, Samphantom too!) I've just been too busy to answer anything. But I thank you all. Really *hugs*_

___Anyway, I saw that many people were already raising their pitchforks to kill me for leaving you on that last cliffhanger (hee hee!) I can't help it, really! If it keeps people reading, then I'll be doing that!_

___Once this story's through, I was thinking of posting one _**Danny Phantom**_ story, one **Astro Boy** story and one **Meet the Robinsons** story at once. The Astro Boy stories and Meet the Robinsons are a little shorter than the Danny ones, but since I've got Danny, Astro and Wilbur crossing over into each other's worlds at one point, I thought it would be easy if I post those at once._

___They won't have anything to do with each other until the crossovers, so don't try to connect anything between them. They each have their own timelines, as well as their own storylines. I thought it would be nice to post three stories at once instead of just one._

___Anyway, Enough ranting! Time to get back to the story!_

* * *

Sam quickly got dressed, and without grabbing a bite to eat for breakfast, the couple dashed out of the house and took the Phantom Sports car to Fenton Works. On the way there, Danny quickly made a call to his parents, telling them of the gravity of the situation; this gave Maddie and Jack the chance to gear up before their son arrived.

Once he had, all four jumped into the Fenton RV and drove towards the Downtown area.

Danny, sitting in the front seat with his father as Jack drove, searched the sky for any signs of ghosts before looking over his shoulder. "Mom, do you have his signal yet?" he asked urgently.

Maddie was quickly typing in commands on the laptop while Sam overlooked her progress. "I'm working on it, Son," she replied.

Danny turned back in his seat and crossed his arms. "It's already eleven thirty in the morning," he muttered worriedly. "Tucker's out there somewhere, with a bomb strapped to his chest, and Andy's still being controlled by those ghosts." He stared out the window. "Man; I hope Tucker's okay."

"Ah, he's been through worse, Danny," Jack replied as he turned down a street. "I'm sure he's perfectly fine. Just waiting for you to rescue him."

Danny looked up at him until a familiar beep from the back caught his attention.

"Danny!" Sam exclaimed. "Danny, your mom's found a signal!"

Danny immediately unbuckled himself and ran into the RV. He came to a stop next to his mother and looked over her shoulder. "Where is it?" he asked.

Maddie pointed at the screen. There was a map of Amity Park, and in one corner of the Downtown area flashed a yellow light.

"It's fairly weak, but I'm still getting a signal," she said.

"Hang onto it as long as you can," Danny encouraged. "It's the only thing we've got in finding Tucker."

Maddie typed in a command and then recoiled in shock. "Danny," she said in concern, "I think we may have a problem." She pointed at the screen. "Tucker's signal is coming from Amity Park Downtown _mall."_

"_Where?"_ Danny exclaimed, leaning forward.

"And because of all the cellular signals, the closer we get, the more jammed the signal is."

Danny pulled at his hair. "I can't go ghost in front of all those people!" he groaned. "And what if I revert back to human form? I'll give away my identity!"

Jack cleared his throat loudly. "I don't think that'll be your _only _concern, Danny," he said with a worried look on his face. He pointed ahead at one of the sky scrapers.

Danny, Maddie and Sam looked out the window and looked up at the giant screen that acted as a television. At that moment, a reporter was speaking about the sudden disappearance of Amity Park's Mayor, and about the anonymous phone call they received describing his situation.

"They alerted the _media?"_ Danny said in horror. He sunk down to the floor and bit his finger nails. "Oh _man, _they thought of _everything!_ They know that I could reveal my secret identity to the world if the reporters are there, so they alerted them!"

"For a bunch of teenagers, you've gotta admit that they're incredibly skilled at this," Sam muttered.

"I won't be able to look for Tucker without being mobbed, now! What am I going to do?"

Maddie helped him back to his feet and dusted him off. "You are going to go into that mall and look for Tucker," she said boldly. "And if going ghost won't help the situation, then you'll go in as Danny Fenton."

Danny stared at her in silence for a moment before his mother turned and ran back to the laptop. "For now, though, worry about getting there in one piece," Maddie added. "That… and hope that Tucker's signal doesn't disappear."

* * *

They had to take several detours in order to get to the mall—all the news vans and curious citizens had gathered here and there, not to mention traffic was still at a high. By the time the Fentons had arrived at the city's largest mall, it was already nearing twelve o'clock.

Jack parked the van in front of the mall doors, and even before the vehicle had come to a stop, Danny had opened the side door and jumped out. "We've got one hour and a half left," he said, pulling out a ghost ray gun. "And a mall full of people to search. Who _knows _how long we'll be in here."

Sam, Maddie and Jack stopped next to him. "Should we split up?" Sam asked. "We'd cover more ground if we did."

"Maybe," Danny replied, "But with those two ghosts, I'm worried you guys could be used as bait too." He frowned boldly and stared at the doors to the mall. "We're going in there together, and we're going to stick together."

They dashed in at once, bursting through the doors. Once on the other side, Maddie announced that Tucker's signal was definitely coming from within the mall near the North end, but on which floor, she still had no idea.

That did not matter to Danny at the moment. All that mattered was that they had a vague idea of where his best friend would be, and that they had to reach that end as quickly as possible.

Several people watched as the family of Ghost hunters rushed in, and began wondering among themselves what could possibly be going on. Some even got onto their cell phones and made calls.

Danny noticed this. "Oh, great," he moaned. "They're probably calling the cops or the media."

"How do you know that?" Sam asked.

"My parents are the city's best ghost hunters, Sam. If they're here at the mall, and the mayor of Amity Park is missing, then everyone will obviously think that something is up."

They continued to zigzag through the maze of people trying to ignore the curious stares, and headed for the North end of the mall. Within mere minutes, reporters had flooded in, wondering what was happening.

"They've got news reporters here," Maddie announced urgently. "Danny, you and Sam go on ahead; your father and I will try to distract the sharks."

Danny watched as his parents fell back and disappeared into the crowds. He then turned and looked at his wife. "Distract them from what?" he wondered, certain that his ghost powers was not what the reporters were after.

"From you," Sam replied, running around a stroller.

"From _me?"_

"Danny, you're NASA's youngest Captain and the world's best ghost hunters' son. You disappeared five years ago and came back unexpectedly. If you ask me, that's a whole juicy story right there."

Danny leaped over a garbage bin and landed gracefully on his feet.

"Not to mention that your acrobatics may stun them too," Sam added.

"I'm not _doing _it for attention, Sam!" Danny snapped. "Stop focussing on what _I'm _doing and just keep an eye on Tucker's location!"

Sam looked down at the PDA she had in her hands and then pointed in one direction. "It's coming from over there!" she called out.

But just as Danny was about to turn and follow her, a hand reached out and grabbed his arm. The astronaut shouted in surprise and fell backwards to the ground.

Sam skidded to a stop and turned to look at him. What she saw caused her to scowl and bare her teeth. "Hey!" she snapped.

Danny groaned and shook some sense into his head before suddenly realizing that whoever had stopped him now had their arms around his waist and their cheek pressed against his. He froze before daring to look and see who it was.

"Hi, Danny," the black haired woman said sweetly, staring at him with her blue-green eyes.

Danny flushed. "P-P-Paulina?" he said in disbelief. Great; another obstacle, and just the person he had wished never to bump into again. He immediately tried to break free. "Wh-what are you doing here?"

"Shopping, but now that you're here, I'm free," Paulina replied, still holding onto him.

"Heh, heh, heh, how nice," Danny laughed anxiously. "Please let go of me, Paulina. I _really _can't be seen doing this with you."

"Why not?" Paulina wondered. "You came back after disappearing for five years, and you still don't want to be with me?"

"Well, it's just that—!"

"We need to hang out more. Are you free?"

"I—!"

"HEY!" Sam exclaimed furiously, storming up to them and catching the attention of several other people. Her face was red with rage. "Get your dirty, _shallow _hands off of him, Paulina!"

Paulina stared up at Sam when she shouted and frowned back. "No way," she replied. "I saw him first!"

"Funny how this couldn't have happened during high school," Danny muttered under his breath.

Sam glared angrily at the thirty-one-year-old. "Get your hands off of the astronaut, or I'll give you a good knuckle sandwich!" she warned.

"No!" Paulina argued, wrapping her arms tighter around Danny's waist. "It's my turn to be with him!"

"_Be _with him? Since when did you ever want to _be _with him other than you-know-why?"

Danny cleared his throat and pretended to slice his neck. "Uh, Sam, ixnay on the etailsday," he whispered while looking nervously around him.

Paulina grabbed Danny's arm again and yanked him towards her. "He's mine now!" she said. "You've had him long enough!"

Sam growled loudly and squeezed her fists. "He's not for sharing, Barbie!" she snapped.

"Oh, you did _not _just call me that!"

Danny quickly pulled his arm free from the fashion model and leaped to his feet. "Paulina, I _really _can't be seen with you like this anymore, okay?" he said nervously as she stood up as well. "I honestly thought you would have known by now but—!"

"—he's my _husband, _you FREAK!" Sam interrupted ferociously, grabbing Danny's arm in her turn and yanking him towards her.

Paulina stared at them in shock. "You mean… you actually got married to her?" she said, staring at Danny in disbelief.

Danny opened his mouth, but Sam spoke up before him. "You've got a problem with that, Prep?" she said sourly.

Paulina frowned in reply and crossed her arms. "I was asking _him, _not _you!"_ she snapped back.

"Come say that in my face, Princess!"

"Name calling is _so _immature!"

"Oh, shut up!"

"No, _you _shut up!"

Danny became incredibly uncomfortable with the situation as Sam and her old high school rival began a heated argument in the mall, in the middle of dozens of people, all about the astronaut she had married. He began to blush with embarrassment before suddenly, his watch beeped. He gasped softly and looked down at it: the time read 12:45.

He gasped softly and then quickly got between the two women. "Okay, okay, break it up!" he snapped loudly. He looked at Paulina. "It was nice seeing you again, Paulina, but I've _really _got to be going now," he said, turning Sam around and pushing her off. "We can go out for ice cream some other time… just as friends… but for now, I need to go! See ya!"

"Let me go, I'm not finished with her yet!" Sam snapped angrily.

"Yes, you _are!"_ Danny snapped back in her ear. "If you haven't noticed, we have a deadline to keep, a best friend to save, and a son to free! And if you haven't been watching the time, we've got forty-five minutes before that bomb fries Tucker up like a corn dog!"

Sam gasped softly. "Are you serious?"

"If I've ever said that girl fights were neat to watch, I was a complete idiot. If you _ever _do that in public again with Paulina, I'll be too embarrassed to go _anywhere_ with you! You're gonna get us caught—!"

All of a sudden, a microphone jumped up in Danny's face, causing him to let go of his wife and jump back in shock. To his surprise, he bumped into another microphone, which made him shout in fright and bounce backwards into one another.

Within mere seconds, reporters from every television and radio station in the city were asking him questions.

"Dr. Fenton, can you tell us what you and your parents are doing here in the Mall?" a journalist wondered.

"Would your whereabouts be tied to the disappearance of Mayor Foley?" another asked.

"Could you tell us how you disappeared and returned to Amity Park after a five-year-absence, without any explanation?"

"What made NASA choose you to be the youngest Captain if you hadn't been there in five years?"

Question after question after question. Danny and Sam immediately glued their backs against each other as they were bombarded by enquiries and nearly suffocated on microphones.

"Mrs. Fenton, what is it like being related to a family of ghost hunters?" a reporter asked, holding out his tape recorder to Sam.

Sam leaned back and then turned her head a little. "What do we do?" she whispered worriedly.

"You started a girl fight in the middle of the mall, slowed us down and got ourselves caught by the media, and you're asking _me _what to do?" Danny said harshly behind his teeth. "If you're expecting me to go ghost, it won't happen trust me!"

They continued to stare in silent shock at the sea of reporters, all the while checking on Tucker's signal and looking at their watches.

Suddenly, Danny's breath came out visible. He gasped in shock and began searching the area for any signs of his son.

Sam noticed his breath as well. "Danny?" she asked.

Danny continued to search until slowly, a sound began fading into view, growing louder and louder. He crouched protectively, much to the surprise of several reporters, and began to twitch painfully.

Sam looked at him worriedly. "Danny?" she repeated. "What's wrong?"

Danny's eye twitched before he reached up and slapped the side of his head over his ear. He shook some sense into his head. "Do you hear that?" he said.

"Hear what?"

"That. That noise. It's getting louder."

"What noise?"

Danny shook his head quickly before wincing in pain and clamping his hands over his ears. "Oh no," he said worriedly. "Please don't do that here, please," he whimpered.

"Danny, what are you talking about?" Sam asked, her anxiety growing by the second. "Danny? Danny, what's going on?"

Danny could no longer hear her. The high pitched squeal had grown far too loud now, and it was still growing louder. He clenched his teeth, grimaced painfully and groaned loudly while leaning down and clamping his hands over his head even harder.

Sam reached down at him. "Danny, what's going on?" she asked worriedly. "What are you doing?"

Danny continued to groan painfully until finally, he could take it no longer. He threw his head back and, with all the strength his lungs could muster, he cried out in horrible pain.

The reporters backed away in shock, as did the mob of people behind them. Sam pulled her arms back and stared at Danny in complete fear.

Danny grinded his teeth before daring to open his eyes and look at his wife. "It's a _wail!"_ he hissed behind his teeth. "They're performing another Ghostly _wail!"_

"A _wail?"_ Sam echoed in fright. She looked about worriedly, wondering how to cover their situation and then pulled out her gun while pointing it at people. "Stay back!" she shouted loudly, causing the reporters to gasp and back away some more. "He's picking up some… uh, ectoplasmic noises in his ear pieces, and all of your questions are making it worse! So shut up!"

The lie seemed to have convinced the crowd. They slowly began to quiet down, yet continued to whisper in curiosity.

Sam continued to point her gun at them before looking at her husband. "Danny, we've gotta _move!"_ she whispered behind her teeth.

Danny was now on his knees, still clutching his head between his hands. He groaned painfully.

"Danny? We need to go!"

Her husband did not respond.

"Danny? Danny? Danny, answer me!"

Danny could not hear her. He could only hear the sound of a distant ghostly wail, along with his pulse beating in his ears. If he even tried to move, the pain was even worse.

Sam looked at him worriedly before a shout in the crowd caused her to look up. In the wide space she had created while holding up the gun leaped Maddie and Jack, holding up weapons of their own. "Stand back!" Maddie shouted to the crowds before she and Jack rushed over to the young couple.

Sam looked at them. "Danny's hearing some kind of ghostly wail that I can't seem to hear," she whispered worriedly. "If we don't find a way to cut it soon, it's going to kill him!"

Maddie knelt down by her son and raised his head. Danny was already drifting into unconsciousness because of the sound. His hands slid off of his ears and fell limply to the floor.

Maddie dug into her pouch and pulled out a pair of ear pieces. "This should filter out the noise nicely," she said softly. One by one, she placed them inside Danny's ears.

A few short seconds following the instalment of the last ear piece, Danny moaned and opened his eyes weakly.

"How does that feel, Sweetie?" Maddie whispered softly. "Is the wail gone?"

Danny's eyelids drooped for a moment or two before he found the strength to pull himself away from his mother. "The ringing is still there, but the wail's gone," he replied. "These things won't be of use to me if they do it at close range, though." He looked up at Sam. "They're making it difficult for me to locate Tucker, and even Andy."

Sam opened her mouth to say something, when everyone's watches beeped twice. She, Danny, Maddie and Jack raised their left wrists and stared at the time.

"One o'clock," Sam said worriedly. "We've only got thirty minutes to find Tucker."

Danny slowly got to his feet. "No," he replied. "We've got thirty minutes before he's killed. We have even _less _time than that to find him."

Sam looked at her PDA. "I've still got the signal," she replied. "But it's getting weaker."

"As long as we still have something to work with, that's all that counts," Maddie said boldly. "I think it'll be best if we stick with you, Danny; not only are the reporters going to keep pestering you, but you'll need some of our gear if that ever happens again." She turned and glared at the reporters. "We're not going to answer any questions until the Mayor is found!" she shouted. "Everyone, please remain calm, and if you get anywhere near my son again, I'll give it to you good!"

Some reporters backed away in fright. Sam grinned amusingly and looked at Danny. "Aw, isn't that sweet?" she said.

Danny, already blushing with embarrassment, covered his eyes. "I hate girls," he muttered.


	18. Chapter 18

They managed to make it through the mall without any more delays after that, save several people wandering around in circles, wondering what was happening. Workers in the mall announced that an evacuation had begun; since the Fentons were indeed searching for the mayor, there was a chance that there would be a ghost fight.

It was by ten after one that Sam finally skidded to a stop. "It's here, Danny!" she said, pointing at a wall. "Tucker's signal is coming from in here!"

Danny stared at the blank wall. It was the type of temporary blockage that construction workers put up in an area of the mall if they were either adding to the building or changing its inside. There was only one door to get in, and unfortunately, it could only be opened by a security code.

Maddie played with the code pad while Sam trailed her hand over the wall. "How are we going to get to the other side?" the ghost hunter wondered. "There's no way my things could crack this. The only one who can is Tucker—!"

Sam suddenly gasped in horror and stared at her PDA. "Oh, no!" she said.

The Fentons looked at her. "What's wrong now?" Danny asked worriedly.

Sam looked up at him and showed the screen of her PDA. "Danny, the signal…" she said. "… The signal… is coming from that _code pad!"_

"_What?"_ Jack exclaimed as Danny rushed over to his mother and began inspecting the pad.

"That doesn't make any sense! Why is Tucker's signal coming from that pad? That's impossible!"

Danny stuck two fingers into the pad and then slowly pulled himself away from it. "It is if you know how to scramble technology," he said. He looked at his wife and held up a tiny microchip. "This is Tucker's. It's supposed to be sitting on the inside of his glasses."

"How did it end up on the pad?" Jack wondered.

"It wasn't _on _the pad, Dad; it was _in _it. Ruber must have noticed the chip and got Tucker to stick it into the pad."

"But Tucker's not a ghost. How did he-!"

Danny slapped his forehead. "_Ruber _probably phased his hand through, Dad."

Sam passed a hand over her face. "This is _not _good, Danny," she said worriedly. "We've got less than twenty minutes to save Tucker, and now we've come up to a dead end. What are we going to do?"

Danny walked up to her and grabbed the PDA. "We keep tracking him," he said. He stuck the chip into the PDA's SD card slot and punched in a command. "I've known Tucker since we were kids, Sam; when he started going through the techno-geek phase, he spoke about different types of tracking devices he wanted to come up with."

"Yeah; that sounds like Tucker."

"Back then, I thought he was nuts. But considering everything we've been through, I'm one hundred and five percent sure that he's got another tracking chip on him somewhere; and _this _one is probably going to be a lot smaller."

Maddie and Jack walked up to them. "But that's the only one that our computer system can read, Danny," she said. "Tucker never installed another tracking device in our Ghost system."

"I know," Danny muttered, continuing to type something in.

"Then how are we going to find him with another unknown device?"

Danny finished typing his command and pressed the enter button. "This chip that we just found is going to lead us there." He paused and looked over his shoulder. "Uh, no one's watching us, are they?" he asked cautiously.

Jack looked about. "Nope; all busy evacuating," he said.

"Good."

"Why?"

Danny stared at the PDA in silence. Then, just as his mother was going to repeat Jack's query, the astronaut's eyes filled with white light.

Sam gasped softly yet knew better not to speak up.

Danny's eyes continued to glow for several seconds until the PDA began to flash and beep. Data lines ran through it swiftly.

"What the heck is he doin'?" Jack wondered in confusion.

MAddie leaned forward. "He's commanding it to do something," she whispered back.

"But _what?"_

The PDA continued to flash and make noise until finally, it ceased and fell silent. Then, a blue dot began blinking on the screen, all the while beeping.

Danny closed his eyes and sighed softly before reopening them and revealing that they had returned to normal. "There," he said softly. "There's Tucker's new signal."

"How the heck did you do that?" Jack wondered in awe as Sam took the PDA back.

"Ultimate Control can be incredibly handy, Dad," Danny replied while panting tiredly. "All I did was asked it to download Tucker's data and DNA from the microchip and use it to track the other one. It searched on a larger perimeter and voilà: Tucker is found."

"Whatever I said about ghosts being useless in the past, I take it back; Danny just made them look _awesome!"_

"And exhausted," Danny added. "Remind me not to use my powers until the time's right to save Andy."

Maddie pointed at the door. "Well, it looks like you may still need to use them once more, Dear," she said. "We can't get in, remember?"

Danny stared at her and then looked at the door.

"Either you order it to let us through, or you'll have to make us go intangible."

Her son blinked and looked about. "No security cameras in the perimeter?" he asked.

"Nope. Not here. Already checked."

"Fine." Danny grabbed Sam's hand and then held onto his father's shoulder. "Grab a hold of Dad, Mom, and don't let go until I tell you to." Once everyone had formed a chain, Danny turned them all intangible. Then, they walked through the wall harmlessly and silently.


	19. Chapter 19

Once everyone was through, Danny let go of his wife and father, and they all became solid beings once more. He sighed and leaned down, placing his hands on his knees and his head between his arms. "Remind me never to do that… right after using UCG while human," he panted.

Sam walked forward a few steps and held up the PDA. She studied the blip on the screen and then looked at her surroundings.

It was a giant empty space. The floor was concrete, no sign of carpeting anywhere, and because of the lack of windows, there was no way of seeing clearly.

"Danny, this place is pitch black," Sam announced. "Couldn't you light yourself up or something?"

"Sam, I just used two ghost powers without transforming!" Danny said through pants. "Gimme a… a break, for cryin' out loud!"

Maddie walked forward and held out a flashlight to her daughter-in-law. "Here you go, Dear," she said. "This should help you." She and Jack already had one.

Sam turned the flashlight on and looked about again. "Ah!" she said. "Much better." She was now able to see where every wooden support beam was and where piles of debris, tools and panels were placed.

"Man, this is neat," Jack said in awe. "I've always wanted to see the inside of a store before it opens."

"Perfect place for a ghost to hide," Maddie agreed.

Danny took a few steps past his wife. "Or, for them to hide a prisoner," he said deeply. He looked about. "Spread out, guys; we need to find Tucker asap. We've got less than fifteen before that bomb goes off."

While Jack and Maddie immediately parted ways and went to search in separate sections, Danny stayed near Sam, considering he had no flashlight of his own. The two searched for their friend near the back of the large space, looking under every cover, every box, every pile they could find.

"I know Tucker can be a pain sometimes, but I'm really worried for him," Sam said quietly as she peeked around a giant crate. "He doesn't _mean _harm; he's just too smart for his own good sometimes… Not to mention I, uh… sorta owe him for taking care of Andy and me all those years you were stuck in the Ghost Zone…"

"If it makes you feel better, Sam, I'm worried for him too," Danny replied, raising a wooden plank and looking around it. "He can get irritating, but what best friend doesn't?" He looked up at Sam. "Don't worry; we'll find him in time," he reassured her. "I promise."

Sam stared at him in silence until a whistle caught their attention.

"Oi! Guys! I found him!" Jack shouted out from the other end of the empty space.

Without hesitation, Danny and Sam turned on their heels and dashed off towards Jack's voice. Maddie appeared from another corner and followed the couple.

Jack was leaning over something when the others reached him. The large man looked over his shoulder as Danny skidded to a stop. "He looks like he took a beating," he said worriedly.

Danny immediately fell to his knees and reached for the man his father had found. When he pulled him up from his place on the floor near a wooden support beam, Danny was able to recognize his best friend.

Tucker was dressed in his everyday clothes—being a yellow t-shirt and a pair of jeans—which suggested that he had had the chance to get up and start his morning properly. His wrists and ankles were bound by ropes, and he had a piece of cloth tied between his teeth and around his head to keep him from shouting. But what had startled Danny the most was the fact that Jack was right; Tucker _did _indeed look as though he had been through a fight.

His left eye was black and swollen, his cheeks were scratched, his hands were covered in bruises and his clothes were stained in dirt. What's more was that he was currently in an unconscious state, which let Danny conclude that he had been severely knocked out.

And his glasses were currently missing from his face.

"He looks _horrible!"_ Maddie said in horror, covering her mouth.

Sam squatted down near the ground and began searching blindly for any signs of his glasses. While she did, Danny pulled Tucker up into as best a sitting position as he could and then placed his back against the support beam. "He must have tried to fight back when Andy came in," he said worriedly, beginning to undo the rope around Tucker's ankles. "Or at least defend himself against him; considering they haven't transformed yet, Tucker would have never hit Andy."

Sam gasped softly and picked something up. She held the flashlight up to it and revealed the item to be Tucker's glasses. "One of the lenses is shattered," she said. "Hopefully, it's the left one, or else he'll be totally blind."

"Good thing he's got an extra pair at home," Danny muttered. He finished undoing Tucker's ankles and then decided to immediately try and awaken the mayor before finishing the rest of the bounds. "Tucker; Tucker, wake up," the astronaut said worriedly, shaking Tucker's shoulders.

"Tucker, open your eyes," Sam added.

"Open your eyes, Tucker, please!" Danny begged, already becoming desperate. "Come on, dude, open your eyes! Tucker, _please _wake up! Tucker!"

As he continued to shake the man's shoulders, Tucker's head began to nod. It fell slightly to one side and he groaned weakly.

Danny stopped shaking the mayor's shoulders.

Tucker stirred and finally dared to open his eyes even a sliver. Of course, without his glasses, he was as blind as a bat. All he could do was rely on what he heard.

"Tucker? Are you alright, man?"

The sound of his best friend's voice immediately filled him with relief. Tucker exhaled loudly and closed his eyes again. He said something that was muffled by the cloth.

"Relax, Tucker, you're in good hands," Danny said gently, reaching behind Tucker's head and untying the knot in the cloth. As gently as he could, he pulled the material away from Tucker's head and took it out from his mouth. "Just relax."

Tucker coughed loudly, as though he had been choking on the material before hand, and then laid his head back weakly. "Is that really you, Danny?" he croaked.

"It's really me, Tucker. And Sam _and _my folks."

"I can't see anything…"

Sam reached over and gently placed her best friend's glasses over his nose. "They're cracked, but you should still be able to see better," she said as Tucker blinked several times in order to adjust his eyesight. "Are you alright, Tucker?" Sam asked worriedly.

"Ruber told us they had taken you hostage," Danny explained while working at untying Tucker's hands.

Tucker scoffed weakly. "More like beat me up with a baseball bat than take me hostage," he groaned. "The hostage part would have been fine by me, if I didn't get a whack along with it. It's never a free lunch with a ghost."

"How are you feeling?"

"Like my head's going to explode."

Danny grinned weakly. "I had to locate a second tracking chip on you when our first one led to a dead end," he said. He looked up at the mayor. "How many did you put on you, Tuck?"

Tucker closed his eyes. "Three… no, two," he muttered. "I was _gonna _put three, but I haven't had a chance yet."

"Where's the second?"

Tucker opened his mouth for a moment before closing it again. "I installed it at the back of my mouth," he said. "I broke a tooth in college, so I got it removed completely two years ago and an old colleague of mine helped install it."

"You're _kidding,_ right?" Sam said in disbelief while Danny and his parents chuckled softly. "You actually got a microchip _implanted_ in your _gums?"_

"I'm a techno-geek, Sam, and the best friend of a half-ghost," Tucker mumbled. "I had to make sure I was safe _somehow."_

Danny shook his head amusingly before finally finishing untying Tucker's bounds. "As weird as you are, Tucker, you're a genius," he said softly as Tucker raised his hands and rubbed his wrists.

"I try, dude."

Maddie looked at her watch and gasped. "Danny, we've got five minutes before that bomb goes off," she said urgently, catching her son's attention. "If we're going to get that thing off, we need to get it off _now._"

"Bomb?" Tucker echoed.

Danny looked at him. "Ruber and Vio stuck a ghost bomb on you, Tucker," he said quickly. "And it's going to go off in five minutes."

"Five… five minutes…" Tucker's eyes suddenly shot wide open. "Five _minutes?"_ he exclaimed in horror. "You mean it's twenty-five after _one?"_

"You know what time it's supposed to go off?" Sam guessed.

"No, but—!"

Danny placed his hands on Tucker's shoulders. "I need you to tell me right now where they put the bomb, Tucker," he said sternly.

Tucker looked down at his shirt. "It's… strapped to my chest, under the shirt," he began.

Danny beckoned his mother over. "Start cracking it, Mom," he instructed. "You're the only one I know who can break these things in seconds."

Tucker shook his head. "No, Danny, you need to get out of here!" he said, trying to push his best friend away from him. "You gotta get out of here _now!"_

"Tucker, what are you talking about?" Sam asked worriedly.

"It's a trap! Danny, IT'S A TRAP!"

No sooner had the words come out of his mouth did a bright red ghost ray blast out from the darkness and impact against Danny's chest. Danny groaned painfully and sailed backwards through the air until he crashed into a pile of debris.

"Danny!" Sam gasped.

"They were planning on attacking him when he got here at one thirty!" Tucker finished. He attempted to get up and help his best friend.

Maddie pushed him back down. "Sit still!" she said sternly as she raised the man's t-shirt.

"But Danny—!"

"If I don't deactivate this bomb, you're as good as dead, Tucker!"

Sam stood up and pulled out her gun. "Danny, are you alright?" she asked worriedly, running towards where he husband had fallen.

Tucker watched her do so until a soft _whooshing _sound over his head caused him to look up. He gasped when he saw Ruber, glowing red in his original form, fly over the mayor and aim another deadly ghost ray at the woman.

"SAM!" Tucker cried, reaching out. "SAM, LOOK OUT!"

Sam turned around and stared in horror at the red ghost.

Ruber smiled, teeth bared. "So long, Tree-hugger!" he said.

Sam gasped and covered her face from view as the red ghost tossed a glowing orb of light in her direction.

But just as the orb would make contact, a bright flash of white light illuminated the empty space around them for a split second; then, leaping out of the pile of debris came Danny, in ghost form. The ghost threw himself onto Sam and pushed her to the floor, just as the ectoplasm sphere sailed over their heads.

Ruber clenched his fists furiously. "Oh, come _ON!"_ he growled.

Vio flew over to him while smiling deviously. "No worries, Bro," he said, rubbing his hands together. "Lemme take a shot at him!" He took as deep a breath as he could.

Sam looked up and gasped, instinctively placing her hands over Danny's ears, hoping it would help by the least when the ghost wailed. Danny placed his hands over hers.

But before Vio could even begin his deadly attack, a green ghost ray ran into his side and sent him sailing into his twin. The two teenaged ghosts shouted in shock before running into the wall.

Danny and Sam stared at them in surprise before turning and looking where the blast had come from.

Jack was standing near his wife while she worked on the bomb, holding up his ghost ray gun and glared angrily at the ghost. "No good-for-nothin' teenaged ghost is gonna _ghostly wail _on _MY _son!" he snapped.

"Wow," Sam said in awe to her husband. "He actually didn't miss this time."

The twin ghosts scrambled to get off of each other and stand up. Ruber glared furiously at Danny, his red eyes glowing. "You and your family are starting to get on my nerves, Hero!" he growled.

"They're just doing their job, that's all," Danny replied as he too rose to his feet.

"Well, _I'm _trying to do _mine!_ And that's make you use that Ultimate Control of yours! But you don't seem to be getting the picture!"

Danny bared his teeth. "And _I _don't think you're getting _mine!"_ he shouted back. "Taking my best friend hostage isn't going to make me do anything; but it _will _provoke me!"

"Ah, good, then," Ruber replied with a grin. "At least I know I'm getting somewhere."

"But this isn't about Tucker anymore; this is about Andy. And if you don't get out of his body now, I'll _make _you get out!"

"Rube, he sounds pretty serious," Vio said, almost worriedly.

Ruber growled in reply. "I ain't going to be ordered around by a hybrid!" he snapped. "I chose this body because of its energy _and _the fact that it's the kid of the Ghost-man, himself! And I'm not going back into the Zone if it's to be blown to oblivion by those dang Observants or Seers!"

Danny clenched his fists. "You're going to get a lot _worse _if you stay here any longer, Kid," he warned.

Ruber bared his teeth. "That's it!" he exclaimed. "I'm through playing games with you! If it's your son you want, then we'll _battle _for him! And I'm not going to go easy this time!"

The white-haired ghost crouched defensively. "Second that notion," he said.

Ruber narrowed his eyes. "Vio!" he said loudly, nearly making his twin jump in surprise. "Get into position! When we merge, I want you to use your wail on him until he squirms on the ground like a dying spider! Make sure he _feels _the pain!"

"Uh, okay," Vio replied.

Ruber looked at him for a moment before looking at Danny. To the teenager's surprise, Danny was smiling just as deviously as Ruber did when he had thought up a sneaky move.

"What are _you _smilin' about?" the red ghost sniffed.

Danny's smile only grew. "Nothing," he replied. "Just the fact that despite being two, you guys are _out-powered_."

Ruber remained silent before grinning himself. "Oh, _really?"_ he said. "We'll just see about _that."_ He snapped his fingers and Vio began to glow purple. Then, the two ghosts merged together and floated up into the air, continuing to grow brighter and brighter.

Danny and Sam watched them do so. "Danny, what if Sadina's potion didn't work?" she asked worriedly.

"It'll work," Danny replied simply.

"But what if it _didn't?"_

"It'll _work."_

"But—!"

"Sam, I've seen Sadina's magic," Danny interrupted. "Everything's she's done has worked. You don't know her like I do." He narrowed his eyes. "It'll work."

The twins continued to grow brighter and brighter until suddenly, their glows began to flicker. Rays of purple and red light danced madly as the room began to tremble. Then, along with a loud _VOOM_ sound, Ruber and Vio sailed into different directions of the room. They shouted in fright before landing among machinery and other items with loud _crashes._

Danny smiled. "Told you," he said to his wife.

Vio struggled to get back to his feet and shook some senses into his head. He gasped. "Hey!" he said in horror. "We couldn't merge! Why didn't we merge?"

"Some stupid ghost shield was keeping us from doing it," Ruber groaned while getting to his feet. "But… how can a shield exist _inside _our ectoplasm?"

Danny smiled cleverly and spoke up, catching their attention. "Like I said," he announced; "You guys are out-powered."

Ruber and Vio stared at him in shock before Ruber growled furiously, teeth bared. "What did you do?" he yelled.

"Me? I just gave my kid a drink when you guys were snoozing," Danny replied. "A friend of mine from the _Zone _knew of a remedy that could keep you two from merging together. You can try all you want, Ruber; but you will _never _be able to attack me like that again. You'll only bounce right back out."

Ruber squeezed his fists, clenched his teeth and growled loudly. His entire body began to glow red, as did his eyes, and the room began to tremble again.

Danny crouched defensively. "Just get out of my son and I won't hurt you!" he cried out over the trembles.

Ruber's eyes continued to glow. "You think that just because you can keep us from doubling our power, that I'll just fork over the kid?" he snapped. "_Think _again, Loser! I said I liked it here, and I'm not gonna have some Halfa from the Real World tell me what to do!"

"We don't need to fight, Ruber!"

"Shut UP! I'm sick of taking orders from everyone who's considered _older _than us! _I'm _gonna take charge, and when I said that I want your Ultimate Control, I meant it!" He leaped into the air. "And I will not stop until I GET WHAT I WANT!"

He charged ferociously towards Danny, holding out both of his glowing fists. Danny took a step back in shock, not expecting this swift a move, and stood protectively in front of his wife.

Ruber yelled angrily and got ready to throw forth his fist when, just as he was about to attack, a flat, metal disc ran into his body. To the ghost's surprise, it latched onto him, pinning his arms around his waist. He gasped as he fell to the ground and then shouted painfully as volts of energy surged through him like electricity.

Danny and Sam had stepped out of the way and looked on in surprise before turning in the direction from where the disc had come from.

Tucker was standing a few ways away, straightening his glasses and glaring furiously at the ghost. "_That's _for my eye, you stupid ghost!" he snapped.

"Tucker, was that the bomb?" Danny exclaimed.

Tucker looked at him. "Yeah," he replied.

"But it was supposed to go off ten minutes ago!"

"It _was; _but when your mom couldn't deactivate it, she recalibrated the timer and set it to a few minutes afterwards, giving her the time to take it off of me."

Maddie ran up to him. "But I had to kill some of its energy, so there's no way that bomb could kill a ghost, Danny," she said urgently. "If you don't trap him now, he'll—!"

The room began to tremble again and Ruber's body glowed even brighter than before. He yelled ferociously and just as Maddie had begun to explain, the ghost pulled his arms away from his body and broke free from the bomb, sending the trap's many pieces sailing.

Danny ducked as a sharp edge sailed over his head and then looked up in time to have Ruber fire a powerful ghost ray in his direction. The white-haired ghost sailed backwards across the floor several feet before coming to a rest.

Ruber's eyes were completely filled with red light. "I've _HAD _it with you!" he bellowed while walking towards Danny, followed closely by his twin. "I can't merge, I can't imitate, and now your friends are starting to tick me off!" He body was hallowed in red flames. "If I need to force you to use that power, then that's exactly what I'll do! And this time, I'll fight like a ghost!"

He took a deep breath and, when he exhaled, out came a large tongue of fire. Sam screamed in fright as Tucker pulled her out of the way.

"Danny, look out!" Jack cried out.

Danny did not have to be warned; he had seen the fire exit the teenaged ghost's mouth, so without hesitation, he scrambled to his feet, dashed off a few ways and then leaped into the air, shooting off towards the exit.

Ruber ceased blowing fire and he and Vio gave chase. While Danny turned intangible and disappeared through the wall, Ruber shot a powerful ghost ray and blew a hole through the wooden panels. The twins sailed through after the ghost.

Maddie covered her face from flying debris and then pointed at the flames that had been left behind. "Sam; Jack and I will kill the flames before it burns this place down!" she said. She tossed a Fenton Thermos to her daughter-in-law. "You and Tucker take this and follow Danny! I've got a feeling he's going to need your help!"

* * *

_**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** Wow, it's been a few weeks since I updated, I suppose. Uni's getting hectic, and I have an exam in two days._

_Anyway, The Fentons have found Tucker, Ruber and Vio attempted to merge but failed, and now the REAL battle for Andy's life has begun. And what better place for that than in Downtown Amity Park Mall?_

_I'm hoping to have this fully updated by Christmas. That way, I can start posting the second installement to the DP: Continuing Adventures series! Sayanora!_


	20. Chapter 20

_**AUTHOR'S NOTE**: Okay, guys, we're almost done the story! Chapter 20 is the third last chapter, so hang on tight!_

* * *

Danny shot out of the construction zone and turned swiftly to his right into the mall, the twins right behind him. He evaded one attack after another, all the while desperately trying to find a good time to use his Ultimate Control and free his son.

_At least everyone's been evacuated, _he thought. _Now, all I need to worry about is weakening them. But how do I do that if Ruber's as fired up as a bull?_

Ruber used his levitation power and tossed different items found in the mall at the ghost. "You can't keep flyin' forever, Phantom!" he yelled loudly. "One of these days, you'll either fess up and show me how to use Ultimate Control, or else you'll run out of energy and get blown to smithereens!"

Danny dodged a flying garbage can. "Is there a third option?" he cried out. "Like, I don't take orders from ghost teens and I'll beat the ectoplasm right _out _of you?" As he spoke he turned and tossed ice rays at them.

Ruber and Vio flipped around them. "Oh, c'mon, c'mon, Rube!" Vio begged. "Lemme imitate that move! I've always _wanted _to learn that!"

Ruber's eyes flashed with anger. "Do whatever you need to do to get this guy down, Bro!" he replied.

Vio smiled excitedly and his eyes began to glow bright purple. He looked at Danny for several seconds while Ruber blocked any attack headed his way, and once his eyes had returned to normal, Vio held up his hand and threw an ice ray at him.

Danny gasped and tried to dodge the attack, but it came too unexpectedly. The ray froze his leg, causing Danny to lose his balance and sail out of control towards the ground. He shouted in fright before crashing into a large potted tree and sliding dozens of feet over the tiled floor.

It took several seconds before Danny could properly thaw his foot and then look up. To his complete horror, there were still a few people wondering around the mall. While some turned and dashed off, others stared in shock at the ghost.

Danny stared back at them before waving an arm through the air. "What are you still _doing _here?" he snapped. "Get the heck out of the mall!"

Some turned and obeyed, while a few stragglers only left when they saw the twins headed Danny's way. That sent the rest of the people running while screaming.

Danny watched them leave before gingerly getting to his feet. Unfortunately, his sluggish movement made him a perfect target, and Ruber shot a powerful ghost ray at his back. Danny groaned painfully and tumbled forwards a few more feet before coming to another stop.

Ruber and Vio hovered over him. "You're not making this a fun battle, dude!" Vio complained. "How are we supposed to take credit for beating you if you just let yourself get beat?"

Ruber landed softly on the ground and walked over to the hybrid. "Taunting him won't make him want to fight us any more, Vio," he replied. He stopped over Danny as the ghost tried getting back up on all fours. The teenager glared at him, reached down and grabbed Danny around the throat.

Danny was at once startled by this and shocked at how much strength the ghost had in him. He gasped painfully as he was raised forcefully to his feet and slammed against the wall.

Ruber narrowed his eyes. "You said you wanted your kid back," he said. "So why aren't you putting up a good fight?"

Danny glared back. He was trying to conserve energy to perform an attack strong enough to force the ghosts out of Andy's body. But he did not tell so to Ruber, knowing that then the ghost would know that he was going to use Ultimate Control. So Danny remained silent.

Ruber did as well before frowning a little more. "Playing the silent treatment, huh?" he said. He raised a hand and caused it to go intangible. "Well, then, I guess I'll just have to figure out what you're planning to do _myself."_

Before Danny could say anything, Ruber had phased his hand through the side of the ghost's head. Immediately, Danny felt indescribable pain as the red spirit began searching through his mind for answers.

Danny gasped painfully and contorted while trying to move his head away. He hollered in agony. Somehow, Ruber had been able to acquire the power of Thought Searching, something several Senser or Seer ghosts had. Lady Sadina had said that she possessed the power to do so herself, yet she refrained from performing it, saying that it was not only useless, but could be deemed deadly for the victim.

Danny cried painfully and wrapped his hands around Ruber's arm. Ruber smiled deviously. "Man, if you could _see _what memories this guy's got, Bro," he said to his twin. "Shows all those lamo ghosts that he beat when he was our age! This is sweet!"

"Just hurry up and get what you need, Ruber," Vio replied nervously while looking about. "I've got a bad feeling that something's going to go wrong."

"You worry too much, Dude. I'm looking through Danny Phantom's memories; that's a pot full of treasure! And I'm likin' what I see! I could just figure out how to use his power this way!"

Danny clenched his teeth as he felt his emotions begin to surface. His cry of pain slowly grew weak and then gradually began to grow louder again; this time, however, it became a growl.

Ruber raised his eyebrows in shock and gasped softly at this.

Danny continued to growl louder and louder until finally finding the energy to open his eyes. His irises glowed bright green. "Get… out… of… my… HEEEEEAAAAAAADDD!" he yelled furiously.

As he shouted, a powerful Ghostly Wail emanated from his mouth. Ruber pulled his hand out of Danny's head and covered his ears in pain as he and Vio were sent flying into the wall across the open space. The glass from the windows above shattered and fell the long way to the ground.

Danny completed his Ghostly Wail and then moaned weakly while grasping his head and falling to his knees. His thoughts were swimming, as Ruber's voice echoed in his mind. _I'm lucky that… Sadina trained me to withstand some of those… Senser attacks, _he thought. _If I hadn't been able to push Ruber out, he would have killed me._

Vio scrambled to his feet and stared at Danny in horror. "He just resisted your Senser attack, Ruber!" he said in terror as his brother sat up while rubbing his head. "No ghost has ever done that before!"

Ruber shook some sense into his mind before looking at in Danny's direction.

"Dude, maybe we should just get out of his kid's body," his twin added nervously. "He's starting to act _way _too serious. It's freakin' me out."

Ruber glared at Amity Park's hero before getting to his feet. "I am not going anywhere until I get a piece of his Ultimate Control," he hissed.

"B-but only the most powerful ghosts can unlock that, Ruber! And Danny's the _only _one who's ever survived unlocking it! That makes him _ten _times more powerful than us!"

"But he doesn't have Imitation. I don't intend to leave until he uses that power."

"B-but Ruber—!"

Ruber turned his head and glared at his brother. "Clam it, Blueberry!" he snapped. He looked at Danny again as the ghost slowly got back to his feet. "You're pretty well trained, Phantom. No ghost has ever been able to resist that attack except for a Senser or Seer. You must have friends in high places in the Ghost Zone."

Danny glared back at him. "You have no idea," he said quietly.

"Must have been powerful too…" Ruber stopped in his words and seemed to listen to something in the air before grinning darkly at his enemy. "Maybe we should get this battle moving, then," he said. "If you're really as powerful as they say you are, then let's have it."

Danny frowned fiercely at him as his fists began to glow with green energy. "You're beginning to step over the line, Ruber," he hissed while walking towards the twins. "If you don't hand Andy over and surrender, I'll be forced to hand you over to the Observants… _personally."_

Ruber laughed. "If you think I'll be stupid enough to fall for such a lamo trap, you're crazy," he said. He tossed a ghost ray at Danny.

Danny caught it in his hand and tossed it back. Vio shrieked and ducked as the attack sailed over his head.

Danny put down his arm and glared at Ruber. "I'm not going to say it again," he growled. "_Get out of my son._"

Ruber smiled. "Who's gonna make me?" he replied.

"Don't test me, Ruber."

"It's a simple question."

"_I _will. _That's _who."

Ruber's eyes flashed. "Good enough," he said. "So let's even the odds." He snapped his fingers, catching his twin's attention, and then pointed at giant pot that contained several small plants.

Danny watched in confusion until he heard a yelp. When he looked at the pot, Ruber used his levitation power to carry over two people:

Tucker and Sam floated into the air, both haloed in red light. They shouted in surprise at having been discovered and then stared at Danny in shock.

Danny stared back at them in just as much bewilderment.

Ruber smiled, teeth bared like a wolf. "Let's even the odds here," he said. He pulled his hand towards himself quickly, causing both Tucker and Sam to sail rapidly through the air until they had reached the twins.

Vio reached for Sam and pulled her down until he had her kneeling on the floor before him. He wrapped an arm around her neck, keeping her in place, while his brother did the same with Tucker.

"Let them go, Ruber," Danny said sternly, not finding the ghost's stunt amusing by the least.

Ruber smiled evilly at him as Tucker placed his hands on the arm the ghost used to wrap around his neck. The mayor raised his chin, trying to keep his airway open, and after sharing a frightened look with Sam, stared at his best friend in fear.

"I'm not kidding, Ruber," Danny growled. "Let them go _now."_

Ruber's eyes flashed. "You say that if I don't hand over your kid, you'll hand me over to the Observants, right?" he said. "Well, here's _my _offer: give us a taste of your Ultimate Control, and I won't kill Andy's mom or Uncle Tucker."

Danny narrowed his eyes. "You wouldn't sink that low," he said behind his teeth.

The red ghost smiled a little more. "Wouldn't I?" he replied. He looked at Vio and nodded his head. The purple ghost, despite his slight concern about their situation, nodded back and raised his hand just as his brother did. Both ghosts turned them intangible, and after Ruber shot one more devious grin at his opponent, the twins sunk their hands into Sam and Tucker's heads, the same way Ruber had done so with Danny.

Immediately, Sam and Tucker contorted and cried out in pain. They tried to break free, they grinded their teeth, they even tried to claw at the arms that were imprisoning their heads. But nothing they did stopped the ever growing pain that was building up in their minds at that moment.

Danny gasped in horror. "Let them go!" he cried out urgently. "They didn't do anything!"

"Do better than _that, _Danny," Ruber taunted over the painful shouts of their prisoners. "Either you perform your ultimate Control, or we turn their brains into jello. And every ghost knows that the brain of a human is so much more likely to collapse faster than the brain of a ghost, which contains ectoplasm."

"You're going to _kill _them!" Danny cried out, staring in horror at Sam.

"That's the whole _point, _idiot. Show me that Ultimate Control and we'll pull our hands out right now." Ruber paused and chuckled. "Oh man, and you'd better choose fast; your best friend here seems to be running out of brain power faster than your wife, considering the good beating we gave him this morning."

Danny looked at Tucker. The man was clearly beginning to have difficulty keeping his eyes open and even shouting in pain.

"And bear in mind that he's the brains of your trio team, Phantom," Ruber added. "If you lose him, who's going to think up all of those brilliant ideas and gadgets that help you do what you do?"

Danny stared worriedly at his best friend before looking at his wife. He went from one person to the other, trying to decide what he should do.

Sam groaned painfully through her teeth. "Don't _listen _to him, Danny!" she shouted. "He can't _beat _you, no matter _what _you decide!"

Danny placed his head in his hands.

"Remember what Lady Sadina told you!"

Suddenly, everything seemed to slow down as Danny uncovered his eyes and gasped softly. His mentor's words returned to mind, the words she spoke moments before they left her in Ectonia:

"_Ultimate Control is the _only_ power that can _never_ be imitated. It must be reached on its own. No matter how hard they try, they will _never_ be able to imitate you when you use that gift."_

Danny remained still and silent for another moment before finally raising his head and looking at Ruber. If he was going to use his power to fool them, then he had to make it look convincing. "Alright!" he cried out, holding up his arms. "Alright, Ruber, you win!" He looked at his feet. "I'll… I'll use my Ultimate Control," he added softly.

Ruber finally flashed a satisfied smile. "_That's _better," he said. "Let her go, Vio; Danny's finally gotten the picture."

Both ghosts pulled their hands out of Sam and Tucker's heads and pulled their other arm away from their throats. Sam fell on all fours and rubbed her head gingerly while Tucker collapsed completely to the ground, coughing painfully.

Danny looked at the mayor for a moment before raising his eyes and staring at Ruber. _So far, he's buying it,_ he thought.

Ruber crossed his arms and watched Danny in silence, but after several seconds of nothing, he began to lose his patience again and frowned. "What's stallin' you, Hero?" he asked. "We let them go; keep your end of the deal."

Danny continued to stare at him before looking at his wife. Sam finally raised her head and stared back at him.

"Are you just _waiting _for me to squeeze their brains again or _what?"_ Ruber hissed impatiently. "Get crackin' on some moves, Hero!"

Danny raised his eyes again. "They need to move first," he said. "I… can't use Ultimate Control if humans are in the way." He closed his eyes. _Hopefully, that sounded more convincing to him than it did to me,_ he thought.

Ruber seemed to ponder this. He took a deep breath and rolled his eyes. "Oh, fine, whatever," he said, waving an arm through the air. "Just get it over with so we can beat you."

Danny looked at Sam again and made sign with his eyes that she was to help Tucker move. She nodded in reply and crawled over to her best friend. After carefully helping Tucker get back to his feet, the two humans moved out of the way and went to stand elsewhere, close enough to use their thermos if they needed to, but far enough not to be injured.

Ruber watched them leave before frowning at Danny again. "There, they're out of the way," he groaned. "Now put on a show for us, so that we can imitate you."

Danny took a deep breath and closed his eyes again. He remained silent and immobile for a moment or two.

That was enough to upset Ruber again. The red ghost clenched his teeth and fists. "What are you _waiting _for, Phantom?" he snapped. "Show us your power!"

Danny did not reply. He did not even move.

Vio stared at him in curiosity until his brother growled loudly and created red flames around his hands. He remained where he was as Ruber began storming towards his opponent.

Ruber eyes began to glow. "Are you gonna play deaf with us now too?" he said angrily. "I kept my part of the deal, so keep yours! HIT ME WITH YOUR BEST SHOT!"

Those words had hardly left the teenager's mouth when Danny rapidly opened his eyes again; _this _time, however, they were filled with pure white light.

Ruber stopped cold in his words and in his tracks and stared in shock at the ghost.

Danny smiled deviously in reply and pulled back an arm. _"As you wish,"_ he said, throwing a powerful Ghost Ray at the teenaged spirit.

Ruber gasped in shock but hardly had time to react when Danny's attack sent him sailing backwards. He ran into Vio, and the white ray sent them both through the wall.

Danny pulled his arm back towards him and crouched into ready stance, teeth bared.

The ground began to tremble as a furious roar shook the mall. There was a bright flash from within the dark space Danny had propelled his enemies in, and out flew Ruber, glowing bright red. Vio trailed after him. The purple ghost was more amazed than upset, however.

Ruber clenched his teeth. "You're ticking me off now!" he yelled. "I don't care if it's an unbeatable power; I _will _imitate it, whether I die trying or _not!"_

He tossed a sphere of ectoplasmic energy at the white-haired ghost. It glowed brightly and would certainly have done some serious harm to Danny, had the hero not have what power he possessed at the moment.

Danny narrowed his eyes and raised a hand. "_Stop,"_ he ordered.

Immediately, inches from his upraised hand, the glowing sphere came to a halt in mid air.

Ruber raised his eyebrows.

"That's sweet," Vio muttered.

Danny looked at him and smiled cleverly before closing his upraised hand into a fist and holding up his index finger. He pointed it downwards and turned his finger in circles, as though telling the orb to turn around and return in the direction it had come from.

Which it did without delay.

Ruber gasped in horror and created a ghost shield before him and his twin; unfortunately, the attack only cracked the shield and propelled the twins backwards several feet.

Danny floated up into the air while chuckling softly. His feet merged into a glowing white spectral tail as he gazed upon the baffled teenagers. "_Is that too much power for Imitators?"_ he taunted.

Ruber growled and got to his feet again. "Cocky Hybrid," he hissed. "If it's a fight you want, then a _fight _you shall have!"


	21. Chapter 21

_**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** Sorry for the long wait, guys! I've just been focusing sooo much on school..._

_Here we go; the next installment to Double Trouble. Let's do this!  
_

* * *

Ruber and Vio rose into the air and immediately began attacking Danny. Danny either dodged every attack or had them chase him around the entire mall. He didn't want to attack them until the time was right, and before that, he had to tire them out.

Especially Ruber.

Vio panted as they chased Danny about. "Ruber, he's goin'… goin' _way _too fast!" he said. "Like, _way _faster… than before!"

"I don't care if he was as slow as a snail, Vio!" Ruber growled. "I want that power, and I _will _imitate it!"

Danny laughed amusingly and looked over his shoulder. "_Sure, if you can catch me,"_ he teased, darting around a corner.

Ruber and Vio continued to attack and chase him. "If you're _really _that powerful, why don't you just attack?" Ruber snapped.

Danny zigzagged between potted trees and light chandeliers. _"A powerful spirit once told me that if you are to use your powers, wait for the right moment,"_ he replied. After a few seconds, he laughed. _"And right now, you're just not _worth _attacking!"_

"When I get my hands on you, you're gonna regret saying that, Halfa!"

Danny turned around and held up his hand. To their complete surprise, Ruber and Vio found themselves coming to a complete and abrupt stop without them understanding why.

Danny narrowed his eyes and frowned. "_But considering the trouble you've caused and the grief you've brought upon my wife,"_ he hissed, _"I'm gonna show you just _how _powerful I can be."_

He formed a white ghost shield around the Imitators and picked them up in his hands. Like a ball, he tossed them over his head and sent them into the floor, creating a dent and sending large cracks through the tiles.

Danny stared at them for a moment before closing his eyes and breathing deeply. _Easy, Danny,_ he thought to himself. _Remember what Sadina taught you. Learn to recognize when too much UC is too much._

The twins got to their feet after a slight moment of weakness and both glared up at the ghost. "You wanna play games?" Ruber snapped while pointing at him. He raised his arms and several items from different stores came flying out towards Danny. "Then let's even the odds!"

Danny watched as sharp objects flew quickly in his direction. But all he did was frown softly and glare at the red ghost, all the while raising his hands and causing every single item to stop in its tracks.

Ruber gasped in shock.

Danny narrowed his eyes and wrinkled his nose.

"He doesn't look too happy, Dude," Vio muttered nervously.

The white-haired ghost bared his teeth. "_Not by the least,"_ he hissed. He pointed at the teenagers and every item that had frozen in mid air turned and headed straight for them.

Vio cried out in shock as he and his brother went intangible. They remained so until every item had fallen harmlessly against the ground.

Ruber bared his teeth. "I don't care if my powers don't have an effect on you," he growled. He looked at his twin. "Vio! Give him a ghostly wail!"

"What?" Vio exclaimed. "Dude, he's gonna make it bounce right back at me!"

"A Ghostly Wail isn't created from ectoplasm, idiot! He won't be able to stop something that isn't _physically _there! So do it!"

"But—!"

"_Do it, _Scaredy Ghost!"

Vio frowned back before looking up at Danny. "Fine," he said stubbornly. "But if I get killed, I blame you!" He took a deep breath and let out as loud a wail as he could.

Ruber was right; because a wail was not a physical attack, Danny was unable to stop it. The ghost groaned slightly as he stumbled back a few feet and clenched his teeth. Although it did not do as much harm or cause him as much pain as it would have while he was not using his Ultimate Control, he could still feel his energy drain slightly because of the attack.

_If I keep putting up barriers to keep me protected, I'll revert back to human form,_ Danny thought. _I could always use a Ghostly Wail against them, but while in this state, I could easily bring down the entire building._

To his surprise, a powerful ghost ray rammed into his chest, propelling him backwards several feet. Danny groaned painfully before raising his head and staring at his attacker.

Ruber, now hovering at the same level as Danny, glared furiously at him. "I've had it up to here with your dang stalling, Hero," he hissed as Vio floated up to join him. "I wanted your kid's body; I wanted your powers; I wanted your _head _served on a _platter, _but you _just-keep-stalling!"_

Danny glared back and evaded another attack sent to him by Ruber, but while he was distracted, Vio had disappeared into thin air and reappeared behind the white-haired ghost. Smiling cleverly, the purple spirit shot a ghost ray of his own at Danny.

Danny groaned again before turning his head and baring his teeth. He now had come to the point where he had to pretend to be oblivious to their attacks; in order for them to attempt at imitating his power, he had to have them believe that they could weaken him.

He dodged as many attacks as he wanted, and let one or two hit him. He pretended as best as he could to make it seem as though he was actually becoming weak.

_Okay, enough fooling around, Danny,_ he thought. _If you don't get this over with, they'll _really _drain you of strength. If you're going to have them attempt to imitate and then make your move, you're gonna have to do it _now—!

_PfffiTOOMMM!_

To Danny's surprise, a bright purple ghost ray shot up into the air past him, causing him to gasp in shock. The ray ran directly into Vio, who flew out of control while shrieking in fright.

Danny stared at him in shock before a voice caught his attention:

"That's it, Buster; I _dare _ya to hit my son again!" Down on the ground, weapons pointed at the twins, were Danny's parents.

Jack held up a fist. "And if you _do _dare, I'll hit you back!" he added.

Danny widened his eyes. "_What are they doing here?" _he said to himself.

Ruber watched his brother sail into the windows before turning and glaring at the humans. "The whole _family's _insane!" he exclaimed.

"Fentons are what we are!" Maddie replied, still pointing her gun.

Danny let go of his ultimate control and closed his eyes. Once his spectral tail had faded back to normal, he reopened his eyes, revealing them to be the original green they usually were in ghost form. "Mom, Dad, what are you doing?" he asked with a worried frown.

"We're coverin' your butt, what else?" Jack replied.

"But why didn't you go help Sam and Tucker? They may be hurt!"

"They're fine, Danny, trust us," Maddie replied.

"But—!"

"_Trust _us, Danny; they're _fine."_

Danny did not understand what his mother meant. He only shook his head. "You've gotta get out of here!" he insisted.

"We're not leaving until these stupid ghosts are out of our grandson!"

Ruber growled at the woman as Vio flew back towards him. "I can see where Hero gets all his stubbornness," he growled.

Maddie narrowed her eyes. "I guess I taught him well, then," she hissed.

Ruber glared at her. "Not well enough," he replied. "Vio! New plan; don't aim for the hero; aim for the bait!"

"What?" Danny exclaimed. "No, don't!"

Ruber and Vio pulled back both their arms and then threw them forward, sending four rays of ecto-energy towards the two ghost hunters. Maddie and Jack gasped in shock.

"NO!" Danny cried out. He turned and flew towards them as quickly as he could.

Jack and Maddie turned in their son's direction when they heard him shout yet hardly had the time to react when Danny shoved them out of the way of the four deadly ghost rays. Unfortunately, the ghost himself did not have enough time to get himself out of harm's way, and was violently tossed several feet away by the powerful attack.

"Danny!" MAddie exclaimed as Jack held her back.

Danny slid across the floor until he rammed straight into a kiosk, knocking several items over. He groaned painfully before raising himself very slowly. _Okay, that's weak enough now, _he thought while rubbing his scalp. _If I keep pretending, I'll lose my chance at saving Andy._ He called upon his Ultimate Control while closing his eyes and then reopened them. Once again, they were filled with light.

By that time, Ruber and Vio had flown over and landed on the ground. While chuckling deeply, Ruber walked over. "Not bad, I'll admit," he said. "You sure know how to protect those you love. I'm impressed."

Danny bared his teeth and shot a ghost ray at the teenager. He made it seem as though he was growing too weak to aim, and missed Ruber completely.

The red ghost laughed. "Uh-oh, someone's getting too weak to properly battle anymore," he taunted.

Danny growled before returning his eyes to normal and rubbing his forehead. _He's falling for it again, _he thought. _Let's just hope he keeps _on _falling for it… at least before I revert back to human form. _The ghost rose to his feet. "I won't stop fighting until you release my son_,"_ he hissed.

"Keep on dreamin', Hero," Ruber replied, coming to a stop a few feet away. He crossed his arms. "I ain't goin' anywhere, especially now that you're too weak to use your power." He looked at Vio. "You ready to do some imitating, Bro?" he asked with a sly smile.

Unlike before, Vio was sharing his brother's clever grin. "Oh-ho yeah, baby," he replied, holding out his fists.

Ruber turned his head and looked at Danny again. "Stand still," he said, "While we suck the power out of you." Both twins closed their eyes and began to glow brightly in their appropriate colors.

Danny could feel their powers wrap around him and attempt to breach his Ultimate Control. He wanted to grin cleverly, but he knew that it would give away his plan. He simply stood as still as he could.

Several seconds passed by before Ruber inhaled loudly and sighed. "Ah, can you _feel _that power, Vio?" he exclaimed as their bodies continued to ripple in bright light. "Man, I ain't felt this good since our first imitation!"

Vio giggled excitedly. "Woohoo, I feel powerful!" he said, holding up his arms.

Ruber looked at Danny again and smiled evilly. "So now we've come to the end of the road, Phantom," he said. "And the only ones leaving victorious and with the prize are Vio and me. You, you get _nothing. _No victory, no Fenton thermos, no friends, and especially, no _son._"

Danny's eyes glowed green with anger. "You're disgusting," he hissed.

"Like I said, dude; we like Andy's body, so we plan on keeping it," Ruber replied, pretending to examine his nails. His eyes filled with red light, just as Vio's filled with purple. "Anyway, let's cut to the part where _we _blow you away… and when I say that, I do mean literally… and _permanently._" They held back their arms. "Game… OVER!"

They threw their arms forward in order to toss the final blow… but nothing happened. No ghost ray, no sphere of bright light, no _nothing. _Not even the air stirred.

Their eyes returned to normal. Ruber gasped in shock and stared at his hands before attempting a few more times to toss the same powerful energy rays that Danny had tossed at them. Vio did the very same. "Hey!" the purple ghost gasped. "It's… it's not working!" He looked at his twin in confusion. "I don't even feel that sudden burst of power anymore, dude! If we imitated his Ultimate Control, why aren't we feeling it?"

Ruber stared at him in complete confusion as well, and then looked at Danny in shock.

Danny had crouched into a ready stance and growled in reply; after blinking once, his eyes filled with white light; he spun in a circle and swung out his foot. His white boot glowed brightly and, as it passed the twins, sent out a ring of ectoplasmic energy.

Ruber and Vio gasped in horror and were propelled backwards dozens of feet by the attack. They slid across the floor, running into another kiosk and even sliding a little passed that before they came to a complete stop.

Ruber shook some sense into his head. "I don't understand," he said. "Imitation's _always _worked. Why can't we imitate his Ultimate Control?"

Vio looked at him in concern until a bright white light caught his attention. He gasped and looked up, staring in horror at their approaching foe.

Danny was once again halloed in bright white light. He frowned gravely at the teenagers as he approached them. "_You should have studied more in Ghost School, boys,"_ he said. _"Ultimate Control is the _only _Ghost power _you _can't imitate. It has to be learned on its own. The amount of power it contains would only destroy you in seconds if you aren't strong enough to achieve it."_

Ruber stared at him in shock. Danny glared angrily at them and narrowed his eyes. _"Get up,"_ he hissed.

The twins gasped as they felt their bodies respond to the command Danny gave them. Without any hesitation, they rose to their feet and stared at their opponent.

"Th-that's not possible," Ruber said in shock. "We can imitate any power."

Danny shook his head. _"Not this one,"_ he replied. He raised his arms into attacking position as the light in his eyes glowed brighter and brighter. _"And now that I've got you boys exactly where I want you, I'll make sure you pay for everything you've done to Andy these past two weeks."_

Ruber's eyes filled with dread. It was the first time Danny had seen him filled with fear.

Danny formed a giant orb of white light between his hands and got ready to throw it. _"Stand still,"_ he hissed.

Ruber was the first to try and move, but found that he could not. He and Vio shared horror filled faces.

"_You want to know what it's like to lose?" _Danny growled. _"Here's a taste of your own medicine, Ruber! GAME OVER!"_

He tossed his arms forward and the orb in his hands exploded, sending all of its energy into one direction: straight for the Twins.

Ruber and Vio gasped in horror and screamed in pain as the white light impacted them. They were immediately haloed in white light, which grew brighter and brighter.

The light continued to grow until the ghost ray was finally able to burst through the two Imitators. As it did, a transparent figure was pushed out of them and slid across the mall floor. Both figures joined together to create one solid being, and once the light had faded away, a child with jet black hair was lying immobile on his back.

Danny stopped his attack and closed his eyes while moaning weekly. His arms fell to his sides as he dropped to his knees in weakness. He then fell on all fours, hanging his head tiredly between his arms. A halo of light appeared around his waist and crossed over his entire body until Danny had returned to human form, with black hair, jeans, a white t-shirt and a thin red sweater.

Ruber and Vio dropped to their knees in weakness as well. "What… what just happened, Ruber?" Vio panted.

Ruber looked at him and then looked at the boy lying several dozen feet away from them. His eyes flashed angrily as he turned and glared at Danny. "He just ripped out our physical host," he hissed angrily. He got up to his feet and squeezed his fists. "You good for nothin' HALF GHOST!"

Danny raised his head at these words and looked up at him in silence.

Ruber's body began to glow. "I'll show you what happens when I don't have my way, Hero," he hissed. "So before we get back into the kid's body, I'm gonna beat you up until you wish you'd never been born! Now that you're too weak to transform, it'll be a sinch!" He threw his arm back as flames wrapped around it. "Say, SO LONG, SUCKER!"

Danny stared at him with growing concern in his eyes and then turned his head away, awaiting the worst.

Suddenly, a bright blue light shot out from another direction and shed over Ruber and Vio. The twins recoiled in shock and turned to look at where it had come from.

Tucker was standing several feet away, with Sam supporting him from behind. The mayor glared furiously at the two ghosts while holding the Fenton Thermos in his hands. The thermos was opened and currently shedding its light on the twins.

Ruber and Vio gasped in horror.

Tucker narrowed his eyes. "So _long, _Suckers," he said coolly, pressing the vacuum button.

Immediately, the thermos began sucking them in. The twins shouted in fright and tried fighting their way out.

"NO! No, no! I'm not going back to those crazy one-eyed freaks!" Ruber exclaimed while clawing at the ground. "NO, NO, NOOOO!"

Vio was sucked in first. He screamed in horror before disappearing into the thermos. Shortly after him, Ruber followed.

"NNNOOOOOOOOOO!" the red ghost hollered. His voice became more and more echo-like until he was completely sucked into the Fenton thermos. Everything fell silent after that.

Tucker slapped the green lid onto the thermos. "Shut up," he groaned tiredly.

Danny rose to his feet. "How did you guys get here so fast?" he wondered in confusion.

Tucker pulled himself away from Sam. "Your parents brought us over here once they had finished with the fire," he replied. "We hid until the right time came to suck them into the thermos." He smiled tiredly and held up the cylinder. "You honestly didn't believe that you could save the day without our help, right?" he teased.

Danny blinked and looked at his parents and they rushed over. "You mean you guys… _planned _that?" he said in shock.

Jack smiled proudly while his wife placed her hands together. "When I told you not to worry about your friends, Sweetie, I was being serious," she replied. "You didn't doubt us, did you?"

Danny shrugged weakly, but before he could say anything, Sam caught his attention.

"Danny! Danny, come over here!"

All four turned in her direction before Danny dashed over to her. Sam was leaning down over Andy, who was still as immobile as he had been when Danny forced the Twins out of him. His face was still incredibly pale.

Danny fell to his knees beside his wife. Sam picked up the little boy and looked at the astronaut. "He's not waking up, Danny," she said as tears filled her eyes. She looked at her son again. "Do something to wake him up."

"He's fine, Sam," Danny replied, although his tone of voice clearly said that he was concerned as well.

"Maybe using that power was too much on him…"

"Lady Sadina wouldn't have told me to use it if it would harm him."

Sam stroked Andy's head, passing her fingers through his hair. "Andy, wake up," she begged. "Please wake up."

"Come on, Andy," Danny whispered.

"Andy, Mommy wants you to wake up."

"You can do it, Andy…"

Tucker, Jack and Maddie rushed over but did not dare to say anything for the time being. They only stood in wait behind the couple, silently praying.

Sam became desperate. "Andy, _please _wake up!" she cried. "Mommy wants you to wake up!"

"Andy, open your eyes," Danny encouraged. "Just open your eyes!"

"_Please, _Andy! Wake _up!"_

Sam shook him gently as she pleaded with her husband and then fell dreadfully silent. No one dared to speak a word during those moments, as though afraid that it would crush their hopes.

It was in that moment that Andy decided to come to. He winced weakly, wrinkled his nose and moaned very quietly before finally opening his eyes. The first person he saw was his mother.

Sam stared back at him, almost in shock.

Andy blinked and squinted at the bright light. "Mommy?" he whispered.

Sam and Danny immediately smiled. Sam cradled her son up against her body and showered him with kisses while Danny placed his arms around both of them.

"Oh, Andy, I'm so glad you're okay!" Sam said joyfully. "Do you still feel sick? Do you need anything? What did you want, Andy; you can have anything you want!"

Andy placed his hands up against his mother's face to stop her from kissing him anymore and then looked up at her. "I want ice cream," he said with a grin. "An' Gramma's gingersnaps."

"Good!" Jack announced, making his wife chuckle. "Back to normal!"

Andy looked at his grandparents and giggled before spotting his uncle. He raised a hand and waved. "Hiya, Uncle Tucker," he said.

Tucker grinned in reply and waved back.

"You look sick. Do you have a monster in your head too?"

Tucker would have laughed if he did not feel as weak as he did, but that did not stop the others from giggling. "Let me sleep on that and I'll let you know tomorrow," he replied.

Andy smiled back before finally looking at his father. His eyes became serious. "Is he gone?" he whispered, almost as though he was afraid someone would hear him.

Danny grinned back. "He's gone," he replied as Tucker raised the thermos. "Actually, both of them are."

"Both?"

"You had two monsters in your head, Andy… Or more specifically, you had two _ghosts _in your head."

"Two _teenage _ghosts," Maddie added as-a-matter-of-factly.

Andy widened his eyes and held up two fingers. "_Two?"_ he said in shock. He pondered this for a moment before raising his eyebrows and beginning to inspect his body with the utmost curiosity. "How did they fit in here?" he exclaimed, making the adults laugh. "I gotses too little a body for _two _ghosts to fit in me!"

Danny rubbed the boy's head. "Ghosts do crazy things," he said with a wink.

Andy noticed this and grinned back.

"Welcome back, Squirt."

* * *

**_AUTHOR'S NOTE:_**_ Okie doke, guys; get ready for the final chapter! Once I have school sorted out, I'll get started on posting the next installment to the Danny Phantom series!_


	22. Chapter 22

Three days passed after the ghost battle at the mall. And despite his kidnapping, his wounds and the crazy day he had had, Tucker still had to face the mob of reporters and journalists when he returned to work after two days' rest. Despite what Danny's mother had told him—he was to take a few days off to recuperate—Tucker was back at Town Hall, giving a speech about Danny Phantom's latest victory and how the Fentons had helped the ghost in locating the mayor.

All morning and most of the afternoon, Tucker was answering question after question. He was more than happy to have his day come to an early close when three o'clock arrived. He packed up his laptop and paperwork, spoke to his secretary for a moment about his plans for the next week, and then gladly exited Town Hall, entering a sunny and fairly warm autumn afternoon in Amity Park.

To his surprise, Danny and Sam were sitting on one of the many steps that led up to Town Hall, gazing over the park that sat before the large building.

Tucker blinked several times before finally walking down towards his best friends. "What are you guys doing here?" he wondered in curiosity, catching their attention.

Danny and Sam turned their heads and looked up. "Hey, Tuck," the astronaut greeted cheerfully.

"We figured we'd come and see you before you headed home," Sam replied. She smiled cleverly. "Your doctor wants to give you a check up to make sure everything's working properly."

Tucker glared at her. "Keep dreamin'," he muttered. "I ain't never goin' into a hospital unless my life depended on it."

"Surprise, surprise," Danny chuckled in reply as Tucker sat down beside him. "Actually, we just wanted to come and see how you were doing. Considering the huge news report about your kidnapping and Danny Phantom's latest achievement, we assumed you'd be wiped out."

"How's your eye doing?" Sam asked.

Tucker sighed. "Getting better, though it's still hard to see through," he replied. "My glasses are fixed, though, so that's good."

"And your head?"

"My head's fine. That ghost pulled his hand out before any real damage was done." Tucker smiled and gently tapped his head. "All mah brains are still in there!" he said, making his best friends giggle. He put placed his arms down over his lap and looked at Danny. "Speaking of which, how did it go, bringing them back in?"

Danny shrugged. "Well enough," he replied. "I handed them over to the Observants and they'll make sure to get them the _best_ accommodations in the Ghost Zone."

"They didn't thank you?"

"Just briefly. That's it."

"Are you _serious?"_ Tucker replied with a frown, not the least bit impressed. "Andy nearly got killed, you nearly got killed, Sam nearly got killed, _I _nearly got killed _twice,_ and all those one-eyed creeps can do is say _thank you?_ That's the lowest thing they could ever do! And for a ghost, that's _low._ Especially considering how powerful _you _are."

"Maybe," Danny replied. "But it's not like I was honestly expecting anything else. Ghosts will be ghosts, I guess…" He took a deep breath. "Besides; the only thing that matters is that Andy is safe from harm. I stopped in Ectonia briefly to tell Lady Sadina of the mission, and she gave me another remedy she cooked up for Andy. It helped heal the sickness caused by the presence of too much foreign ectoplasm in his system, and allowed him to recover within a day. Now he's back to doing the things he used to do before this whole crazy thing happened."

"Speaking of the little dude, where is he?" Tucker wondered.

Suddenly, two hands slapped down over the mayor's shoulders, causing Tucker to jump in surprise. Then, the hands moved onto his head and pulled his beret down over his eyes, knocking his glasses off of his nose. Tucker cried out in shock while Danny and Sam laughed. "Hey! What's the big idea?" he exclaimed, blindly looking for his spectacles.

There came a high-pitched giggle from behind him and then he heard the stranger leap down and stand before him. "Hi, Uncle Tucker!" a boy's voice exclaimed.

Tucker froze for a moment before pulling his beret back into place and placing his glasses back over his eyes.

Andy was standing before him, hands behind his back and school bag over his shoulders. He grinned brightly and waved.

Tucker blinked before grinning cleverly. "You sneaky little bugger," he chuckled before reaching out and picking the boy up. He set Andy down on his lap. "How's Andy feeling today?"

Andy patted his stomach. "All better!" he said proudly. "I gotses to stay home from school for a few days, and when I came back, I gave my teacher a big hug!"

"Oh, really? And what did she say?"

"Nothin'. She just started cryin'."

Tucker raised an eyebrow while Danny chuckled. "Luckily, though, he didn't give a hug to Mr. Lancer," the astronaut noted.

"Ugh; no kidding," Tucker said with a shudder, making the boy laugh. He looked at Andy again and grinned. "So, all up and atem now, eh? Have you been practicing more ghost tricks?"

Andy smiled and nodded vigorously. "Uh-huh," he replied eagerly. He raised his right hand. "I've found out how to do somethin' new, Uncle Tucker." His arm went intangible. "Watch this." He reached out for his uncle's head.

Tucker watched him do so before widening his eyes in shock and yelping in fright. He immediately lifted Andy off of his lap, placed the boy in Danny's, and leaped to his feet before taking a few steps back and getting into a defensive position. "No-no! Noooo, _no!_ My brain is not for touching!" he exclaimed in fright, creating an X with his two index fingers. "Keep your hands off of my brain!"

Sam and Andy immediately burst into laughter while Danny smiled amusingly. "Tucker, he can't actually _do _it," he chuckled. "He's just playing around!"

"I don't care," Tucker replied. "I just don't want him to do that near my head! That's a no-no zone for anyone who can go intangi—!" The black man suddenly froze in his words and frowned in confusion. He looked at his best friend. "Wait a minute; how does Andy know about this anyway?"

Danny smiled innocently in reply while Sam laughed behind her hand.

Tucker blinked several times before glaring annoyingly at the astronaut. "And you say _I'm _the pain in the butt," he groaned.

Danny held up two fingers. "_Second _pain in the butt," he corrected him.

Tucker crossed his arms and rolled his eyes amusingly.

Andy pointed down the street. "We're gonna go get some icecream, Uncle Tucker," he said. "Wanna come?"

Tucker looked at him and smiled. "Sure," he replied. As the Fentons rose to their feet, however, Tucker ran around them and went to stand on Sam's right, almost as though hiding.

Danny and Andy stared at him in surprise, wondering what he was doing.

Tucker peered around Sam and narrowed his eyes. "But I'm gonna walk on the _human _side of this family, thank you," he muttered stubbornly.

Sam and Andy giggled while Danny stuck his tongue out. "Everyone's a critic," the astronaut announced before they headed off.

* * *

_**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** Et voilà! Double Trouble has finally come to an end! The next story will be **Gaining Trust,** and if you guys had kept an eye on my DP character chart, you'll see someone named Nicholas Stevenson. He's going to be appearing in the next story, making his debut entrance as Danny's co-pilot. The story will be taking place at NASA, so this will be one where you'll only see a bit of Andy. ;) Don't worry, the little cutie pie will be back afterwards._

_I will also try to post one **Meet the Robinson** story, one **Astro Boy** story, one **Phineas and Ferb** story, and I might even throw in something from my **Ratatouille** batch, although THESE guys are super old, so they'll be really corny. XD I wanted to spice it up a bit so that you could all get into reading a bit of everything and explore. I may not have time to post **Gaining Trust** before Christmas unless I can get the cover art done, so just bare with me, okay? _

_A GREAT BIG THANKS goes to Felita, Lenny and Clau for their AMAZING and FLAWLESS support and encouragement. If Andy had any aunties other than Jazz, they'd be you three! Thankies!_

_Anyway, keep checking in here and on Deviantart just in case I post something there too! TTFN for now!  
_


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